
Class E- G..&4t_ 
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JOSEPH FORNEY JOHNSTON 

(Late a Senator from Alabama) 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED IN THE SENATE 

AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OF THE UNITED STATES 



SIXTY-THIRD CONGRESS 
THIRD SESSION 



Proceedings in the Senate Proceedings in the House 

January 9, 1915 January 31, 1915 



PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 
THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING 




WASHINGTON 
1915 



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JAM 6 19ig 



K 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page. 

Proceedings in the Senate 5-60 

Prayer by Rev. Forrest J. Prettyman, D. D 5 

Prayer by Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D 8 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. John H. Bankhead, of Alabama 11 

Mr. Jacob H. Gallinger, of New Hampshire 21 

Mr. John R. Thornton, of Louisiana 27 

Mr. Knute Nelson, of Minnesota 30 

Mr. Lee S. Overman, of North Carolina 34 

Mr. John D. Works, of California 39 

Mr. Morris Sheppard, of Texas 40 

Mr. Henry F. Ashurst, of Arizona 44 

Mr. John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi 48 

Mr. Francis S. White, of Alabama 52 

Proceedings in the House 61-98 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D 64 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Oscar W. Underwood, of Alabama 67 

Mr. Edwin Y. Webb, of North Carolina 71 

Mr. George W. Taylor, of Alabama 76 

Mr. John L. Burnett, of Alabama 79 

Mr. Richard W. Austin, of Tennessee 82 

Mr. J. Thomas Heflin, of Alabama 84 

Mr. John W. Abercrombie, of Alabama 86 

Mr. William O. Mulkey, of Alabama 91 



[3] 



DEATH OF HON. JOSEPH FORNEY JOHNSTON 



Proceedings in the Senate 

Friday, August 8, 1913. 
The Chaplain, Rev. Forrest J. Prettyman, D. D., offered 
the following prayer: 

Almighty God, we come to Thee this morning in the 
midst of a great sorrow that has fallen upon our national 
life. One whom Thou didst honor, calling him to places 
of power and authority, who was honored by his fellow 
citizens of a great State, called to be their leader in public 
affairs, this hero of the past, this great true man, has 
passed on to the great beyond. 

We remember with reverence and with deepest affec- 
tion the lives of the worthy fathers whose characters 
were forged in the furnace of the conflicts of the past, 
who came out of the furnace unsoiled and stood for the 
highest, the truest, and the best. As these fathers pass 
on to the beyond, give to us the inheritance of their char- 
acter and the inspiration of their example. 

We pray that Thou wilt sanctify unto us the bereave- 
ment of this hour, teaching us the uncertainties of life, 
giving to us the real concern for the highest ideals of life, 
as we gather these inspirations out of the characters of 
the men whom Thou dost call into leadership in this 
great country. 

Guide us, we pray Thee, in all our ways. Help us to 
follow the path of duty and honor until at last we, too, 



[5] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 
shall be gathered to our fathers. Fur Christ's sake. 

Amen. 

The Secretary proceeded to read the Journal of yester- 
day's proceedings, when, on request of Mr. Smoot and 

by unanimous consent, the further reading was dispensed 
with and the Journal was approved. 

Mr. Overman. Mr. President, in the absence of the 
surviving Senator from Alabama il becomes my sad and 

painful duly to announce the deatli of Senator Johnston. 
The end that comes to us all found him this morning at 
8.30 o'clock in his apartment house in this city, sur- 
rounded by his stricken wife. Ids devoted son, and loving 
friends. 

A prince among men, a gallant Confederate soldier, an 
able governor, a great Senator, a true patriot, a faithful 
and loyal friend lias passed from this world of strife 
and bitterness and lias crossed over the river to rest 
under the shade of the trees in a better land of peace, 
happiness, and eternal rest. 

I would ask the Senate that a public funeral in the 
Senate Chamber be observed, but his family desire that 
his funeral shall be of the simplest character. 

Tlie Senator from Alabama [Mi'- Bankhead] at a future 
time will ask the Senate to sit apart a day thai fitting 
tribute may be paid to his memory and his long and 
faithful services. 

I offer the resolutions which I send to the desk. 

The Vice PRESIDENT. The Secretary will read the reso- 
lutions submitted by the Senator from North Carolina. 
The resolutions were read, considered by unanimous 
consent, and unanimously agreed to, as follows: 

Resolved, Thai ihe Senate lias heard with deep regret ami pr >- 
found sorrow of the death of the Hon. Joseph Forney Johnston, 
late a Senator from the Stad' of Alabama. 

[6] 



Proceedings in the Senate 



Resolved, That a committee of 17 Senators be appointed by the 
Vice President to take order for superintending the funeral of 
Mr. Johnston. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect his remains be re- 
moved from his late home in this city to Birmingham, Ala., for 
burial, in charge of the Sergeant at Arms, attended by the com- 
mittee, who shall have full power to carry these resolutions into 
effect. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to 
the House of Representatives. 

The Vice President appointed, under the second reso- 
lution, Mr. Bankhead, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Overman, Mr. 
Chamberlain, Mr. Hitchcock, Mr. Clarke of Arkansas, 
Mr. Vardaman, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Swanson, Mr. Smith of 
South Carolina, Mr. Thornton, Mr. Gallinger, Mr. War- 
ren, Mr. Bristow'j Mr. Catron, Mr. Brady, and Mr. Kenyon 
as the committee on the part of the Senate. 

Mr. Overman. Mr. President, I move, as a further mark 
of respect to the memory of the deceased Senator, that 
the Senate do now adjourn. 

The motion was unanimously agreed to; and (at 12 
o'clock and 7 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until 
to-morrow, Saturday, August 9, 1913, at 12 o'clock me- 
ridian. 



Thursday, December 17, 191b. 
Mr. Bankhead. Mr. President, I desire to give notice 
that on Saturday, January 9, immediately after the rou- 
tine morning business, I shall ask the Senate to consider 
resolutions in commemoration of the life, character, and 
public services of my late colleague, Hon. Joseph Forney 
Johnston. 



[7] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

Saturday, January 9, 191"). 
Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D., of the city of Wash- 
ington, offered the following prayer: 

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, Thou hast prom- 
ised that Thou wilt never have us nor forsake us. Ful- 
fill unto us now, we beseech Thee, Thine own gracious 
word and be with us at this lender and holy hour. Thou 
hast called us to this day and to this hour, nor do we 
come, our Father, empty handed, hut we come bringing 
the most precious gift that Thou dost grant unto us to 
present to Thee, for we come bringing to Thee the mem- 
ory of one who was dear to Thee, and therefore dear to 
us, the memory of one whom we loved because Thou 
didst first love. Though we behold not now his face 
and listen in vain for his voice, yel we can not, our 
Father, forget the honored companion, the wise coun- 
selor, the faithful public servant. We thank Thee not 
as we would but as we may for the life and the public 
services of him whom this day our lips shall name. 

We remember before Thee those to whom this loss is 
most sore and whose grief il is beyond our words to re- 
pair. Give unto them, we pray Thee, Thou most gracious 
One, the oil of joy for mourning, beauty for ashes, and the 
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Lead them 
by the still waters of Thy grace. Grant that the rod of 
Thy faithfulness and the stall of Thy providence may he 
their comfort: and grant that neither the present with its 
sorrows, nor the future with its uncertainty, nor the 
height of their love nor the depth of their grief may he 
able to separate them from the love of God which is in 
Chrisl Jesus our Lord. And unto Thee, our Father, who 
loved us with an everlasting love and hast given us com- 
fort and good hopes through the gospel, unto Thee he the 
glory, the praise, the dominion, and power, now and 
ton \ ermore. Amen. 

[8] 



Proceedings in the Senate 



Mr. Bankhead. Mr. President, pursuant to the notice 
given on December 17 last I offer the resolutions which 
I send to the desk and ask unanimous consent for their 
present consideration. 

The resolutions (S. Res. 516) were read, considered by 
unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as 
follows : 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of 
the death of the Hon. Joseph F. Johnston, late a Senator from the 
State of Alabama. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the de- 
ceased the business of the Senate be now suspended to enable his 
associates to pay proper tribute to his high character and distin- 
guished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a copy 
thereof to the family of the deceased. 



[9] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mk. Rankhead, of Alabama 

Mr. President: It is one of the inscrutable mysteries 
of creation, if not the most lamentable tragedy of human 
existence, that when a man reaches the fullest maturity 
of wisdom and attains the ripest development of temper 
and judgment, then he must die. The death of Senator 
Joseph Forney Johnston, my late colleague, adds affirm- 
ance to this melancholy contemplation. 

He had not reached his seventieth year, and was not an 
old man by the measure of patriarchs; and yet out of the 
various conflicts of a combative life, out of the intel- 
lectual contests that he had waged against master minds 
both in the forum of politics and the activities of a period 
of marvelous industrial development, out of the exulta- 
tion of his triumphs and the philosophy of his disap- 
pointments, he had contrived to reach that eminence 
where he could survey all human affairs not only with 
great wisdom but also with a great sense of justice and 
tolerance. 

Subjected as he was in the course of a long and arduous 
political life to many asperities, assailed front and rear 
not only by worthy but sometimes by sinister adversaries, 
he would have been justified in harboring in his bosom 
some natural resentment; and jet it is my firm conviction 
that, although he may have pitied some and condoned 
others, Senator Johnston died with peace in his heart 
and with love and charity toward all the world. 

Reminded as I often am of the deep sense of the loss of 
his comradeship and counsel, deprived as we all are of 

[11] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

his splendid attributes of geniality and courtesy, I deeply 
regret that there can not be conveyed with these bio- 
graphical reminiscences the expression of the real spirit 
of Senator Johnston's personality. 

Joseph F. Johnston, the eleventh of twelve children, 
was horn in Lincoln County, N. C, March 23, 1843, and 
was reared on his father's farm near Charlotte. His fore- 
fathers were of sturdy Scotch stock and were among the 
early pioneers of the State while it was yet a colony. 
Thai Senator Johnston's ancestors were men prominent 
and useful in the public service is evidenced by the fact 
that two of his kinsmen served as governor of North 
Carolina — one, Gabriel Johnston, before the Revolution- 
ary War, and the other, Samuel Johnston, during that 
war. That he inherited in just measure the soldier blood 
which he so freely shed for the Confederacy is shown by 
the record of his grandfathers on both sides, who served 
with distinguished gallantry as colonels of militia in the 
War for Independence. 

At an early age he moved to Shelby County, Ala., where 
his guardian then resided. Although youth is ever hope- 
ful and fashions for the future roseate dreams and high 
ambitions, it is doubtful if this stalwart lad on his tedious 
journey from his native Stale to his new home had the 
temerity to contemplate the high and ungrudged honors 
Uial Alahamians would in the reach of the years bestow 
upon him. 

When lie was 17 years of age the great Civil War came 
upon us. Although lacking four years of his majority, 
Joe Johnston heard and answered the call of the South 
and enlisted as a private soldier in the Eighteenth Ala- 
bama Regiment. He did not go to the front to parade or 
to seek epaulettes or for any thin veneer of glory, lb' 
went to fight. 



[12] 



Address of Mr. Bankhead, of Alabama 

The chronicle of Holy Writ informs us that when 
David, Prince of Israel, desired, for unworthy reasons, 
to compass the death of Uriah, the Hittite, he wrote a 
letter to Joab in command of his forces of battle, and he 
sent it by the hand of Uriah. "And he wrote in the 
letter saying, ' Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest 
battle, that he may be smitten and die,' and Joab assigned 
Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men 
were." By the four separate wounds received by him 
it is known that Joseph F. Johnston, as a Confederate 
soldier, fought in the forefront of the hottest battles 
where valiant men desired to be. He finished the service 
with the rank of captain, won by virtue of devotion to 
duty and gallantry in action. Alabama has not forgotten 
nor failed to reward the services of her sons who de- 
fended her honor during the Civil War. At no time 
since her people regained control of her affairs after the 
days of reconstruction up to this hour has my State 
ever been represented in this great body save by a Con- 
federate soldier. 

After the war Capt. Johnston returned to Alabama and 
began the study of law in the office of his kinsman, Gen. 
William H. Forney, another great Alabamian, who with 
signal ability served his State and country for a number 
of years in the House of Representatives. Upon admis- 
sion to the bar he located at Selma, Ala., which was also 
the home of the late lamented Senators John T. Morgan 
and Edmund W. Pettus. 

Those were perilous limes in the days of the South, and 
especially so in the Black Belt section of Alabama, where 
the Senator then lived. It is rather difficult, even in 
retrospect, to recall now the tumult and the passion in 
which our southern people were embroiled on account 
of the conditions imposed upon us by the blunders of 
reconstruction. It was a desperate, an unyielding, and a 

[13] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

relentless struggle to sustain the traditions of our fathers 

and the social integrity of our race. 

As evidencing the political conditions with which as a 
young citizen Gapt. Johnston and his people were con- 
fronted at that time, it may not he amiss to quote the 
following extract from a speech delivered by Senator 
Daniel W. Voorhees, of Indiana, in the House of Repre- 
sentatives on March 2'X 1872: 

From turret to foundation you tore down the governments of 
11 States. You left not one stone upon another. You rent all 
their local laws and machinery into fragments and trampled upon 
their ruins. Not a vestige of their former construction remained. 
Their pillars, their rafters, their beams, and all their deep-laid 
corners, the work of a wise and devoted generation of the past, 
were all dragged away, and the sites where they once stood left 
naked for the erection of new and different structures. You re- 
moved the rubbish, pushed the Army into the vacant ground, 
established provisional governments as you would over territory 
just acquired by conquest from a foreign power, and clothed 
brigadier and major generals with extraordinary functions as 
governors. 

Willi reference to this part of his career, a friend, in 
writing a brief sketch of tin Senator, said, in 1907: 

His first public service after the disbanding of the Confederate 
Army was in connection with the overthrow of Africanism in 
Alabama. Residents of the Black Belt counties need not be retold 
of the nature of Capt. JOHNSTON'S services in those days. He 
did not waste Jehovah's good time in persuading the black man 
that the entire theory of republican government is repugnant In 
the domination of the illiterate and degenerate, though thai was 
a constitutional question of lofty interest and truth. On the con- 
trary, he acted. Organizing the famous "Lightning Committee," 
whose purposes were practical and not academic, he and bis 
patriotic associates kept Dallas County habitable for the white 
man until good government had been fully restored in the State. 



" 



Address of Mr. Bankhead, of Alabama 

And so it was amid such turbulent surroundings that 
Capt. Johnston entered the arena of politics and public 
life and began that long struggle for civic leadership 
which, through the varying vicissitudes of triumph and 
disaster, culminated in the achievement of the highest 
honor within the bestowal of a grateful and affectionate 
people — their commission to a seat in the Senate of the 
United States. 

Senator Johnston continued to practice his profession 
at Selma until the year 1883, when he foresaw the possi- 
bilities of Birmingham as the industrial metropolis of the 
South, and moved to that city when it only had a popula- 
tion of 3,000 people. He was offered and accepted the 
presidency of the Alabama National Bank, and remained 
at the head of that institution for many years. When 
the Sloss Iron & Steel Co., the pioneer iron-making cor- 
poration of the district, was organized, he was elected 
its first president, and financed and conducted it success- 
fully, and from that time on to his death was identified 
as one of the leading figures in the industrial and civic 
development of what is now a great city. 

In the campaign of 1890 he was a candidate for the 
Democratic nomination for governor, but was defeated. 
In 1894 Senator Johnston made his second race for the 
office of governor of Alabama, but was again defeated by 
Gen. William C. Oates. This contest was exceedingly 
close and was not settled until the State convention met, 
when Gen. Oates was nominated by a narrow margin. 
Undismayed by two defeats, in 1896 Senator Johnston 
made his third and successful race for chief executive of 
the State, and in 1898 was renominated without opposi- 
tion and elected. 

During the last administration of Gov. Johnston the 
question of the constitutional convention for the State 
became a leading issue, and the legislature in 1898 passed 

[15] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

an act providing for the holding of an election to deter- 
mine whether or not a convention should be held. This 
act was approved by Gov. Johnston. Thereafter, how- 
ever, Gov. Johnston decided to throw the weight of his 
influence against holding the convention. He called an 
extra session of the legislature to repeal the convention 
act, and the legislature not only repealed the act but 
refused to submit the question of a suffrage amendment 
to the constitution to a vote of the people. This act upon 
the part of Gov. Johnston temporarily alienated from 
him many of his political admirers, but no man ever 
questioned that in his conduct on this matter he was 
actuated by the highest and purest motives. In 1900 
Gov. Johnston was a candidate for the United States 
Senate against John T. Morgan, hut was defeated in the 
primary election. It could not be said, however, in dis- 
paragement of any candidate that he was defeated by 
John T. Morgan, for the man did not live in that State 
who could compass the defeat of Senator Morgan as long 
as he offered for the position. Gov. Johnston in the 
hour of his defeat did not sulk or repine. He accepted 
the situation with good grace and announced that as a 
Democrat he abided by the will of his party. 

In 1902 the leading issue was the ratification of the 
new constitution, and Gov. Johnston again announced 
as a candidate for the gubernatorial Domination against 
Gov. W. D. Jelks on the platform of opposition to the 
ratification of the constitution, which resulted in another 
defeat But defeat to the indomitable spirit of Senator 
Johns ion only served to spur his ambition to renewed 
efforts and activity. 

In 1906 the Democratic State committee agreed upon 
the plan of nominating in the primary election two 
"alternate Senators." which meant the selection of two 
nominees to succeed Senators Morgan and Pettus in the 

[16] 



Address of Mr. Bankhead, of Alabama. 

event of death or resignation during their terms. There 
were seven candidates in the primary, and Senator 
Johnston, having received the second largest number of 
votes, under the primary plan succeeded to the seat of 
Senator Pettus upon the death of that venerable and 
well-beloved Alabamian. 

If asked to state Senator Johnston's leading char- 
acteristic, I should without hesitation say that it was his 
absolute devotion to and reliance upon his friends. It 
is doubtful if the political history of Alabama affords an 
instance of a public man who, through the varying 
phases and tumult of public life, gained and absolutely 
held a larger or more devoted coterie of personal fol- 
lowers than did Senator Johnston. And so it happened 
that throughout the varying fortunes of his stormy po- 
litical career Senator Johnston was never without his 
close and devoted personal following in every county in 
Alabama, whose ardor and devotion no defeat could chill, 
and who formed the nucleus of a force that never be- 
came dissipated and who were always eager and anxious 
to be summoned by their leader to another contest. 

At the time when he was stricken with his fatal illness 
he had sent out his summons of fidelity once again, and 
for the last time, and with the same unfaltering trust in 
his character and statesmanship, they were answering 
the call with the old ardor and enthusiasm, because they 
loved the man, because they trusted in the leader, because 
they knew that he believed in and loved them. 

It is a wonderful thing to contemplate the magnetic 
qualities of a man who through the long process of the 
years can so lay hold on the hearts of hosts of men, who 
in every controversy affecting public affairs, without 
cavil or question, gave to their leader unreserved alle- 
giance. 



[17] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

It was another of Senator Johnston's leading char- 
acteristics that he always followed his own counsel and 
acted upon his own convictions. His was not a dogmatic 
obstinacy, but after patiently hearing all views, diligently 
seeking to inform himself, tolerantly weighing all argu- 
ments on a given proposition, he came to a deliberate 
conclusion; he adhered to his views with unfaltering 
integrity. His intellectual processes were discursive and 
analytical rather than academic and ornate. He sought 
the truth of a proposition rather than to observe the 
pleasing ornamentation by which the truth is surrounded. 
He delighted to drive the spear of question through the 
armored mail of doubt — in short, his quest was for the 
verities of life, of society, of government, to the end that 
by their use he could better serve his people, the State, 
and the Nation. 

Any attempt at recalling the life and character of my 
lamented colleague would be conspicuously incomplete 
were mention not made of the softer side of his nature. 
He was not a man who wore his heart upon his sleeve; 
he was not given to lamentation, nor was he ostentatious 
in the bestowal of favors, and yet to those who really 
knew him his nature was as tender as a child's. The 
unswerving and gracious solicitude that he bestowed 
upon Hie wife of his bosom and (he splendid sons who sur- 
vive him testifies to his qualities as husband and father. 

Touching another of Senator Johnston's chief charac- 
teristics, well remembered by his colleagues here and his 
constituency in Alabama, I desire to quote an excerpt 
from an editorial in a Birmingham paper commenting 
upon his death: 

It remains to say a word about his humor. Without it Senator 
Johnston could not have traveled so far or have climbed so high. 
A man of his good, tough fighting qualities would have raised no 
enemies to last far beyond the next campaign. But Senator 



[18] 



Address of Mr. Bankhead, of Alabama 

Johnston's unfailing good humor, his second nature to make 
his points with anecdotes, and such anecdotes as were pure fun, 
without a sting, smoothed down the rough places in the conflicts 
and made it easy to bridge every difference. And so in com- 
mending to the rising generation a study of the eminent virtues 
and patriotism and the career of the dead statesman, we would 
point them especially to this shining quality of qualities in the 
man, that he w T alked ever on the sunny side of the road of life, 
saw shadows and brightened them, felt that most things and men 
were good, and rejoiced thereat. 

In conclusion I desire to commend to the youth of Ala- 
bama and of this Nation as a pattern of conception of and 
devotion to honest conviction, of fearless adherence to 
moral and intellectual standards, a portion of the speech 
delivered by Senator Johnston in explanation of his vote 
on a question that had attracted national attention and 
invited considerable adverse criticism from portions of 
the press. From his own lips in life fell the brave and 
manly words that now in death may be read as a true 
epitaph of his character. I quote from the speech 
Senator Johnston made in the Senate on the Lorimer 
contested-election case : 

Mr. President, I entered the Confederate Army in April, 1861, 
because the State of Alabama had seceded from the Union, and 
I believed their cause was righteous and that it was my duty so 
to do. For four long, bloody years I followed the flag of Dixie, 
sometimes in defeat and often to victory. I became convinced 
before the surrender that we could not succeed, because we could 
not replace the brave men who fell on the field of battle. We 
were shut out from the world, and could only draw recruits from 
the cradle. The idea never came into my mind that because we 
must inevitably fail I should desert to the enemy. I stood by my 
colors facing death and defeat until Lee and Johnston surren- 
dered the fragments of glorious armies whose fame will never die. 
The span of my years may be shortened by the shots stopped by 
my breast in that failing cause; but, all in all, my keenest satisfac- 
tion in the past rests not upon those moments when I swam with 

[19] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

the tide, but when I bared my breast, with Ajax, and took the 

lightning. Mr. President, I refuse to save myself at the sacrifice 
of my convictions and my honor. The people have not heard the 
evidence as I have. They have not taken an oath to do impartial 
justice according to the Constitution and the laws. I have. I 
can not render judgment upon their convictions, nor can they 
transfer to themselves my punishment if I violate my own. I 
would be unworthy of my plate if, for any fears of public retri- 
bution or disapproval, or for the sake of securing popular favor, 
I should disregard the convictions of my judgment and con- 
science. If every member of the Legislature of Alabama and 
every citizen of the State should demand that I should yield to 
the popular clamor for the conviction of anyone upon their belief 
about the facts contrary to my judgment, my convictions, and 
my oath as a Senator, I should promptly resign my commission 
and permit them to choose a successor who might be more will- 
ing than I to sacrifice his honor and self-respect for a seat in the 
Senate. I have taken no oath and made no promise to cast my 
vote according to the edict of the mess. ] ran before the wind 
of no popular temporary issue. I rode into this Chamber upon 
no hobby selected for political effect. I believe that the dignity 
of a Senator is not consistent with catchpenny platforms, patent 
issues, or maudlin generalities, and that my presence here is based 
upon the conviction of my people that upon all public questions 
my experience and my record of service in the past justified them 
in relying upon me to consider patiently each question in the 
light of public welfare and vole my convictions. 

During his service in the Senate possihly no other Mem- 
ber was more punctual or constant in his presence in the 
Chamber during the sessions of this body or attended 
with more regularity his various committee meetings. 

He died in the city of Washington on the 8th day of 
August, 1913, and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in the 
city of Birmingham in the soil of his adopted Slate which 
lie loved so well and to which he gave such valuable patri- 
otic service. 



;miv 



Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire 

Mr. President: Joseph Forney Johnston entered the 
Senate in the year 1907 as a Senator from the State of 
Alabama. Senator Johnston had served as governor of 
his State, and had also been a soldier in the Confederate 
Army, enlisting as a private at the age of 17 years. He 
distinguished himself in battle, was wounded four limes, 
and rose to the rank of captain. In spite of his zeal for 
the Confederate cause, at the close of the war he became 
an earnest advocate of reconstruction. In a speech de- 
livered in the Senate he said: 

I am glad that I survived the war to support and aid the 
Government that my forefathers helped to establish. 

That feeling dominated his life, and he did all in his 
power to weld the North and the South more firmly 
together. 

Upon Mr. Johnston's election to the Senate, among 
other assignments he was given a place on the Committee 
on the District of Columbia, of which committee at that 
time I was chairman. During the five years of his service 
on that committee he was a regular attendant at the 
meetings, and devoted much time and attention to the 
matters brought before it. On meeting days he was 
always one of the first members to appear in the com- 
mittee room, and, while waiting for a quorum, furnished 
much enjoyment to the Senators present by relating some 
of his inexhaustible stock of stories. His rendering of the 
negro dialect was perfect, and his most amusing anec- 
dotes dealt with the colored people, always in a good- 
natured and kindly way. 



[21] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

Senator Johnston was a profound believer in the 
Christian religion, and made repealed efforts to secure 
the enactment of a law for the more complete observance 
of Sunday as a day of rest in the city of Washington. 
The bill introduced by him was passed by the Senate, but, 
much to the Senator's disappointment, never became a 
law. 

For some time during his term of service in the Senate 
Senator Johnston was a member of the Committee on 
Privileges and Elections. It became his duty, with other 
members of the committee, to pass judgment on the 
validity of the election of some of his colleagues, a duty 
which he never shirked, but, on the contrary, gave force- 
ful utterance to his convictions on the floor of the Senate, 
never allowing partisan considerations to influence his 
opinions in the slightest degree. 

He also served as a member of the Committee on Mili- 
tary Affairs, in which position he displayed his usual 
broad and conciliatory views. When his death occurred 
he was chairman of that great committee. 

Senator JOHNSTON gave much time and thought to the 
study of the negro question. He was a true friend of the 
colored man, and believed, as he expressed it, that it was 
the duty of the superior race to do what it could to de- 
velop and enlarge his usefulness and increase his happi- 
ness. On New Year's eve, 1907, he delivered an address 
before the Algonquin Club, of Boston, on the negro ques- 
tion, discussing it with great frankness and making a 
profound impression upon his audience. 

Senator Johnston endeared himself to the people of 
New Hampshire in a peculiar way, and for that, among 
other reasons, I esteem it a privilege to participate in 
these memorial exercises. While governor of his State 
he visited New Hampshire with bis staff, accompanied 



[22] 



Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire 

by his wife and a party of the most attractive girls of 
Alabama, the purpose of the visit being to accept on 
behalf of his State a bas-relief presented by New Hamp- 
shire to the new battleship Alabama, at that time lying 
with her sister ship, the Kearsarge, in the harbor of 
Portsmouth. The joint participation in such a ceremony 
in northern waters of these two vessels, whose progenitors 
had engaged in the memorable combat of the Civil War, 
was of peculiar significance, which Senator Johnston 
recognized, and in accepting the gift of New Hampshire 
spoke feelingly of the ever-growing friendship between 
the people of the North and South. One of the features 
of the celebration was a banquet at Hotel Wentworth, at 
the close of which two crippled veterans presented to 
Gov. Johnston two Alabama battle flags that they had 
captured during the war. The governor accepted them 
in a speech which brought tears to the eyes of many of 
those present. 

Gov. Johnston, accompanied by Secretary of the Navy 
Long, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Frank W. Hackett, 
ex-Secretary of the Navy Hilary A. Herbert, and Rear 
Admiral W. T. Sampson, United States Navy, with ladies, 
arrived in Portsmouth on a special car from Boston on 
the 17th day of September, 1900. They were met at the 
depot by several hundred people, headed by a band, and 
were welcomed by Mayor Mclntyre and Hon. Wallace 
Hackett, of the reception committee, and were driven to 
the Hotel Wentworth, at Newcastle, a short distance from 
Portsmouth. The company remained in Portsmouth and 
vicinity for three days, and every possible courtesy was 
bestowed upon the distinguished visitors. There was a 
great parade and presentation of the bas-reliefs of the 
tablets, followed by a banquet and ball at the Hotel Went- 



[23] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

worth. The inscription on one of the tablets reads as 
follows : 

The State of New Hampshire to the U. S. S. Alabama. This 
tahlet, companion to that on the U. S. S. Kearsarge, placed here 
by courtesy of the State of Alabama, perpetuates in enduring 
peace names once joined in historic combat. 

On one side of the car in which Gov. Johnston reached 
Portsmouth was conspicuously displayed the word "Ala- 
bama," on another line the words "Alabama-Kearsarge," 
and on still another appeared the name "New Hamp- 
shire." 

In advance of his arrival Gov. Johnston wrote to Gen. 
Chadwick about a flag which the party would carry, thus 
showing his great regard for the proprieties. It was the 
State flag of Alabama — a red St. Andrew's cross on a 
white field, with a yellow hammer on the staff. The 
governor explained in his letter that it was carried by 
a soldier in the Spanish War, and, as there might he 
danger of its being taken for a Confederate flag, he 
deemed the explanation necessary, that the people of 
New Hampshire might fully understand it. 

At the banquet Gov. Johnston made an eloquent and 
touching speech, two paragraphs of which I quote from 
the Portsmouth Herald, a Republican newspaper, as 
follows: 

It is fit that the Commonwealth of New Hampshire, a Common- 
wealth the mother of Webster, that great apostle of an indis- 
soluble Union of indestructible States, should be the first, offi- 
cially, not only to rise superior to the passions and prejudices of 
a fratricidal war. but to determine to commemorate and honor 
the gallant deeds of the American sailor, without regard to the 
flag which floated over him. 

Men might differ about the right or wrong of any cause, and 
they may conscientiously take one side or the other. A greal 
nation worthy of liberty and inspired by lofty sentiments can not 
fail to honor courage and heroism by whomsoever displayed, and 

[24] 



Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire 

especially should it do so when those heroes are descendants of 
the very men who gave so freely of their blood and treasure to 
secure the independence of our common country. 

At the close of the celebration Gov. Johnston and his 
party were taken on a trip through the White Mountains, 
Hon. Frank W. Rollins, at that time governor of New 
Hampshire, being one of the party. Gov. Rollins became 
greatly attached to Gov. Johnston, and the two became 
firm friends. I have received from Gov. Rollins a letter 
containing some reminiscences of the trip, from which I 
quote a few sentences: 

Every time the train stopped Gov. Johnston would go out on 
the back platform and make a speech to the assembled multitude, 
to their huge delight, for he always had something pat and perti- 
nent to say. The trip was one of the pleasantest of my life, and 
I know that Gov. Johnston enjoyed it greatly. 

One of the curious happenings of this trip was the fact that 
Senator Chandler was present, and he and Gov. Johnston kept 
up a running fire of repartee, which was immensely amusing and 
in which Gov. Johnston more than held his own. 

I found him a most whole-souled, honorable, and genial man, 
and I should imagine him a very loyal man, standing strongly for 
his friends. He was without question the best story teller I ever 
knew. When we took him through New England he kept every- 
body in laughter from the time he struck Boston until he left for 
home. He was always ready with an impromptu speech, clever 
and to the point. He could illustrate his speeches and his stories 
by quotations from the best authors and from the Bible, with 
which he was very familiar and which he used with great effect. 

One of the lovely things about Gov. Johnston — 

Says Gov. Rollins — 

was his devotion to his wife and his deference to her wishes. 
He was always consulting her, either verbally or by a glance of 
the eye, to see if she approved of his course, and apparently she 
knew just how to handle him, and toward her he always exhib- 
ited extreme tenderness and courtesy. 



[25] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

Mr. President, the death of Senator Johnston removed 
from this body a man whom I was privileged and proud 
to call friend. His sweet spirit, his genial manner, his 
delightful companionship, all appealed to me, and his 
memory will remain as an inspiration for all that is hest 
in both public and private service. Our associate has left 
us, never to return, and we may well say, slightly 
changing the words of the poet: 

Again a parting sail we see: 

Another boat has left the shore; 
As kind a soul on board has she 

As ever left the land before; 
And as her onward course she bends — 
Sit closer, friends. 



[26] 



Address of Mr. Thornton, of Louisiana 

Mr. President: Although I did not know him until I 
reached Washington in 1910, I think I can truthfully say 
that Senator Johnston had no more intimate relations 
with any of his brother Senators than with myself. 

We were thrown together from my arrival, as we 
lived in the same house during the first year of my term, 
and we made it a point after our separation to seek the 
company of each other whenever we could conveniently 
do so, and our wives found the same attraction in each 
other's company from the beginning as did their hus- 
bands, which was another link between the latter. 

I was drawn toward him by his strong qualities of 
head and heart, his dislike of sham and humbug, the 
highly developed sense of quiet humor which he pos- 
sessed in so eminent a degree and which, with me, adds 
to the attractiveness of its possessors when not ma- 
liciously used by them, as it never was by him, and also 
by the subtle and indefinable feeling that exists between 
former Confederate soldiers and serves as a link to bind 
them closer together. 

It was to me that, when he was taken with the illness 
that finally carried him off after only a week's duration 
and which neither he nor anyone thought in the begin- 
ning was serious, he sent word requesting that I would 
announce his necessary absence from the Senate, and I 
did so regularly during the week of his illness. 

I did not seek to see him during the first four days of 
his sickness because each day I was expecting his return 
to the Senate on the following morning, and when on 
the fifth day I learned the disease had taken a sudden 



[27] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

turn for the worse and sought to visit him it was deemed 
best that he should receive no visitors, and I could only 
send him word of my deep solicitude on his behalf and 
of my prayers for his recovery. 

And so I never saw him in his sickness, and it is a 
mournful pleasure to me that the recollection of his face 
which will ever abide with me is that of the strong yet 
kind and genial countenance lit up by the eyes kindling 
with humor that I had always known, rather than one 
drawn by pain and wasted by disease. 

Senator Johnston belonged to that class of men more 
generally the product of this than of any other country, 
the class to which this Nation owes more than lo any 
other class of her citizens, and the class I honor above nil 
others, the self-made men of strong and virile character 
who rise to eminence through the native strength of their 
intellects, the assiduity with which they have cultivated 
their minds later in life when circumstances beyond their 
control prevented them from doing so earlier, their con- 
scientious devotion to all duties, private or public, in- 
trusted to their care, coupled with absolute integrity of 
character. 

Such a man was Senator Johnston, and through the 
application of these principles throughout life he rose to 
financial and political influence. 

In every phase of human endeavor in which he em- 
harked lie played well and honorably his part. 

True to his conception of duly, he entered the Confed- 
erate Army as a private in the beginning of the Civil War 
at the age of 17, and left it as a captain at its conclusion 
at the age of 21, bearing on and in his body lour different 
wounds received in thai strife as a testimonial to the fact 
that he had not failed to discharge his duty as a soldier. 

He received from his State the highest political honors 
she could bestow on one of her citizens, having been twice 

28 



Address of Mr. Thornton, of Louisiana 

elected governor and then sent to the United States Senate 
as one of her ambassadors to this body, and he died in 
her service in the last position. 

May the State of Alabama always continue to send to 
this body men of the type she has been universally send- 
ing for so many years, and thereby continue to maintain 
here the high prestige she has established in the past and 
maintains in the present time. 

In all positions of public honor or trust he ably and 
worthily discharged his duty and to the satisfaction of 
the people of his State, who had given him these proofs 
of their confidence. 

In all private relations of life he proved himself the 
good husband, father, kinsman, and friend. 

It was my privilege to be named on the Senate com- 
mittee selected to accompany his body to his home, and 
thus I was permitted to pay the last tribute of respect to 
his remains. 

I heard the solemn and beautiful burial service of the, 
Episcopal Church in Birmingham, of which he was a 
member and vestryman, read over his body, and then 
saw it consigned to the earth in the beautiful Oak Hill 
Cemetery of that city, in the midst of a great and sorrow- 
ing concourse who had known and loved and respected 
him in life. 

There may his body rest in peace with his spirit re- 
turned to God who save it. 



[29] 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota 

Mr. President: The first active and pronounced work 
Senator Johnston entered upon in his early youth was 
that of a soldier. When the tocsin of the great Civil War 
first sounded he left school and joined the Confederate 
Army as a private, infused with the enthusiasm and war- 
like spirit which then arose and prevailed in the South. 
He was barely 17 years old at that time. He rose in the 
service to the rank of a captain, and was wounded on 
four different occasions, once or twice quite severely. 
His record as a soldier and officer was of a high order. 
He was noted for his skill, his energy, and his more than 
ordinary bravery. That enthusiastic spirit and fervor of 
youth, which swept so many of the young men of the 
South into the Confederate Army, also prevailed at the 
North, and swept thousands of her youth into the Union 
Army. The war was fought largely by hoys and young 
men. The spirit of patriotism, as each side understood 
it and felt it, was paramount and controlling. It was not 
a mercenary war nor a war of mercenaries. It was a war 
of the entire people of one section against the entire peo- 
ple of the other section, involving fundamental and vital 
principles of government, and hence when the god of 
hattlc had determined the result and the war had come 
to an end the veterans of the North and the veterans of 
the South returned to the avocations of peace, untar- 
nished and with their manhood intact, ready and willing 
to assume the duties of citizenship in a reunited country. 
The war was a hard school, but the veterans came out of 
it with a purpose and determination to hear their full 
share in promoting the welfare, the progress, and the 
prosperity of our common country. 

[30J 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota 

The historian Macaulay tells us that when the Stuarts 
came into power again in England and disbanded the old 
veterans of Oliver Cromwell it was feared that these old 
Puritan soldiers had become so demoralized by the war 
that they would prove to be a lawless and dangerous ele- 
ment in the community. These fears, however, the his- 
torian adds, proved wholly groundless and unfounded. 
As a matter of fact, these old veteran soldiers of many 
a bloody battle field, on resuming the avocations of peace, 
proved themselves to be among the most law-abiding, 
industrious, and thrifty men in the community; and if 
a mechanic, an artisan, or a skilled laborer in any com- 
munity was found to be more sober, more industrious, 
and more prosperous than any other of his class it turned 
out on investigation that he was apt to be one of 
Cromwell's veterans. 

What proved true as to these veterans of the " Com- 
monwealth " has, on the whole, proved equally true as 
to the veterans of our great Civil War. Disbanded as 
warriors, they at once enlisted in the great armies that 
were invading the industrial fields in all directions and 
rendered good and faithful service therein. It was not 
always an easy matter for the soldiers of the North to 
take up the severed thread of their civil life, and, in the 
nature of the case, it must have been much harder for 
the soldiers of the South. Yet both classes, with that 
fortitude which they had exemplified as soldiers, took 
up their tasks of civil pursuits with energy and perse- 
verance. With them peace had its victories no less than 
war. 

At the close of the war Senator Johnston took up the 
study of the law, was admitted to the bar, and soon be- 
came a successful and much sought after lawyer, with a 
lucrative practice for that locality. 



[31] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

In 1896 the people of Alabama had such confidence in 
him thai they elected him their governor and reelected 

him in 1898. After serving four years as governor he 
retired to private life until 1907, when he was elected 
United States Senator to fdl the unexpired term of Sen- 
ator Pettus, deceased. He was also reelected for the 
succeeding full term ending March 3, 1915. Senator 
Johnston proved himself a wise, prudent, and able gov- 
ernor, and as such had the confidence, esteem, and good 
will of all the people of his State. 

As a Member of this body he was active, attentive, and 
energetic in the performance of his duties, both in com- 
mittees and on the floor of the Senate. While he was 
not much given to debate, yet when he spoke there were 
always force and wisdom in what he said, and he had 
the attention of his associates. He was a most genial, 
kind-hearted, and sympathetic man, ready and willing 
to hear and help those who were worthy and in need of 
assistance. In his youth, and before the war had laid 
a heavy hand on him, he must have had a strong and 
vigorous constitution, but the many wounds he received 
in battle had to some extent undermined his strength 
and vitality; yet he bore up cheerfully and courageously 
under the burden, while his mind and the spirit of his 
youth abided with him to the last. 

I have and have had many dear friends on the other 
side of the Chamber, but the nearest and dearest to me 
have always seemed to me to be the old Confederate 
soldiers. The memory of the march, the bivouac, and the 
stress of battle, though we were on opposite sides, has 
somehow through the lapse of years eliminated all but 
a feeling of fellowship, kinship, and sympathy for each 
other and an untarnished love for our common country. 
The war was the great crucible which removed the dross 



[32] 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota 

and left the pure metal to survive. We never knew or 
understood each other as we came to know and under- 
stand each other through the stress of war. And the 
knowledge and understanding thus acquired have bred a 
moral ligament stronger even than our written Consti- 
tution. 

Since the war both the North and the South have 
honored many of their veterans by sending them to the 
Halls of Congress. Many of them have served in years 
past in this body, but time and advancing years have 
thinned their ranks. Ten, however, remain, and of these 
five, namely, du Pont, Goff, Warren, Works, and Nelson, 
were in the Union Army, and five, namely, Bankhead, 
Catron, Martin, Thornton, and White, were in the Con- 
federate Army. 

In a few years time will eliminate the last of the 
veterans from this Chamber, but let us hope that the 
memory of what they wrought in peace and in war will 
survive among the sagas of our country. One of these, 
old veterans, a brave and heroic soul, passed away when 
Senator Johnston left us, left us in line of battle, for his 
final reward. Corpl. Nelson, of the Union Army, pays 
this brief and sincere tribute to Capt. Johnston, of the 
Confederate Army — opponents in war but comrades and 
brothers in peace. 



[33] 



Address of Mr. Overman, ok North Carolina 

Mr. President: Three times within 18 months has this 
Senate Chamber been converted into a "lodge of sorrow." 
Within this short time the pale horse has entered its por- 
tals from whence its mysterious rider, without warning, 
has borne to the great beyond, from whence no traveler 
ever returns, three of our colleagues — great Senators who 
served their country well and had endeared themselves 
to us in a marked degree. They were suddenly called to 
take a journey which we all must take, solitary and alone, 
a journey which not only those who occupy high positions 
of trust, honor, and influence must take, but for this sad 
journey the pale messenger of death knocks with impor- 
tune hand at all doors. He enters alike the house of the 
humble, the gates of the great, the palaces of the rich, and 
the home of the poor. 

On such occasions we arc solemnly reminded that 
riches, pride, ambition, vainglory, strife, bitterness, ani- 
mosity, arc all vanity; that " the path of glory leads but to 
the grave"; that at such a time only things eternal are 
worthy of supreme consideration. 

Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of sorrow. 
He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth like a 
shadow and continueth not. 

Beyond the circle of our immediate family the dead arc 
soon forgotten; and it is meet and proper, when our col- 
leagues, the representatives of great States, depart this 
life, that a day be set apart in order that there shall be 
some public reminder and memorial of their death to 
perpetuate their memory in the records of the Senate. 



[34] 



Address of Mr. Overman, of North Carolina 

Joseph Forney Johnston was born and reared in Lin- 
coln County, N. C, a small county situated near the foot 
of the mountains, a county full of historic interest and 
inhabited by a brave people. Here was fought the Battle 
of Ramseur's Mill, where a splendid victory was won 
over Cornwallis's men. In the Revolutionary War it fur- 
nished two generals — Gen. Joseph Graham and Gen. 
Peter Forney — and also Maj. Daniel M. Forney and Maj. 
Abram Forney, all of whom fought valiantly in the cause 
of liberty. Of Gen. Forney's family Senator Johnston, 
as his middle name would indicate, was a direct de- 
scendant. 

In the Civil War this county furnished one brigadier 
general and two major generals, all of whom were pro- 
moted from the ranks for gallantry, and made fame for 
their State. They were Gen. Robert F. Hoke, Gen. 
Stephen D. Ramseur, and Gen. Robert D. Johnston, a 
brother of Senator Johnston, who was promoted several 
times for gallantry, and on the field at Gettysburg was 
shot five times while leading his men in a charge in that 
great battle. 

Senator Johnston was descended from fighting stock, 
and no braver man ever wore the Confederate gray than 
he. He was in school when the war began, volunteered 
at the beginning, and served four years. He enlisted as a 
private and rose to the rank of captain. He bore upon 
his body four wounds received in as many battles. 

His paternal ancestors were no less brave than his 
maternal. He was descended from the brave Scottish 
Highlanders, the Johnston Clan, who, with other clans, 
after the destructive battle of Culloden, settled in the 
Old North State, and from these splendid people have 
descended some of our best and greatest men. 

After the war, in 1866, Senator Johnston left North 
Carolina and went to Alabama, and first settled in Selma, 



[35] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

where he resided for 18 years. He then moved to Bir- 
mingham, where he took an active part in the upbuilding 
of that great city. He was not only a strong figure in 
politics, hut was one of the leaders in the industrial, finan- 
cial, and political progress of that city and State. He was 
president of the Alabama National Bank and was the first 
president of the Sloss Iron & Steel Co. He was particu- 
larly active in restoring to the white people the control 
of that great State. Recognizing his leadership and 
activity in their behalf, the people elected him governor 
of Alabama for two terms. In 1907 he was unanimously 
elected to the United States Senate to succeed the late 
Senator Pettus, and was reelected in 1909. He was rarely 
ever absent from his seat in the Senate and was one of 
the most untiring and industrious workers in this body. 

I knew him well not only as a Senator, but our personal 
relations were intimate. No one knew him but to admire 
him. His evenness of temper, his courage, his great 
ability, his forbearance, his gentlemanly and courteous 
manners I recall with fondness. These qualities, with 
his inimitable wit and humor, made men love and follow 
him. His ready wit left no scars. 

He never made a brow look dark nor caused a tear but when 
he died. 

He loved his people and his people loved him. He was 
one of them — their champion, their guide, their friend. 

In time of war, when but a young man, he fought in the 
ranks with his people in North Carolina; he suffered with 
them; he shared their sorrow and tluir adversities; "he 
was with them in the burning light of battle, by the sol- 
emn camp fires, beside the dying and the wounded, amid 
hunger and cold, and came hack home with (hem in 
defeat and humiliation." 



[36] 



Address of Mr. Overman, of North Carolina 

In the State of his adoption during the terrible days of 
reconstruction, amid tumult, amid ruin and anarchy, 
amid distress and tyranny " he guided his people through 
the wilderness of woes, helped to bring them safely back 
to their rights, and to restore their hopes. He helped to 
preserve their priceless honor, their sacred homes, and 
to restore their liberties." When the history of the great 
men of Alabama is written his name will be recorded 
there. 

To his family and his friends he was all tenderness and 
indulgence. In his married life he was most happy. His 
noble wife, who was his faithful and loving companion, 
was a descendant of William Hooper, of North Carolina, 
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 
Sweet spirited, gentle, and kind, she adorned her station 
in life and shed luster and joy upon his home. His hap- 
piest and most contented hours were passed in her pres- 
ence, and his love and best thoughts centered about her. 
To him his home was the holiest spot on earth. He loved 
and read his Bible. He was a member of the Episcopal 
Church, and rarely did he miss attending the Sunday 
morning service. In Washington he and his lovely wife 
every Sunday morning could be seen wending their way 
to the House of God to worship Him in His holiness. He 
lived a patriot. He served his State and country well, 
and died a Christian. What higher tribute can be paid 
any man? 

In the early morning of the 8th day of August, 1913, his 
spirit took its flight to the home of. the soul in that realm 
where the sun never sets and the waves of eternity roll. 

A soldier, a leader, a captain of industry, a financier, a 
governor, a Senator, and a statesman has departed this 
life; and, as his friend, I am glad to pay this poor but 
just and deserved tribute to his memory. His voice is 



[37] 



Memorial Addresses : Senator Johnston 

still, but his public career will live in history. When he 
crossed the bar he had no fears but that he would meet 
his "Pilot face to face." 

Sunset and evening star, 

And one clear call for me I 
And may there be no moaning of the bar, 

When I put out to sea, 

But such a tide as moving seems asleep. 

Too full for sound and foam, 
When that which drew from out the boundless deep 

Turns again home. 

Twilight and evening bell, 

And after that the dark! 
And may there be no sadness of farewell, 

When I embark; 

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place 

The flood may bear me far, 
I hope tn see my Pilot face to face 

When I have crost the bar. 






Address of Mr. Works, of California 

Mr. President: I have not prepared any formal eulogy 
upon the life and character of Senator Johnston. I 
desire only in a few simple words to express my kindly 
appreciation of a man who brought so much of joy and 
happiness and sunshine into the world. My acquaintance 
with him was brief. I first met him in this Chamber. 
I had the good fortune to serve with him upon one of 
the important committees of the Senate and met him 
frequently. 

What appealed to me and drew me to him was his 
boundless good humor. The work of a United States 
Senator is not of a kind, as a rule, to cheer the heart; 
it is a round of incessant toil day after day, but Senator 
Johnston always met it cheerfully. They who knew him 
when he was young and strong and vigorous and full of 
worthy ambition may speak of his courage and bravery 
in time of war and his great achievements in civil life, 
but I venture to say that he brought more of good to 
humanity by his kindly disposition, his brotherly love, 
and the sunshine and sweetness that he brought not only 
into his own life but into the lives of those who asso- 
ciated with him than by deeds of valor in war or worthy 
achievements in time of peace. It was that quality of 
his nature that, as the years go by, will serve more than 
anything else to keep green his memory in the minds 
and hearts of those who have loved him. 



[39] 



Address of Mr. Sheppard, of Texas 

Mr. President: When Joseph Forney Johnston died 
there passed from earth as gentle and as brave a spirit 
as ever dwelt within the casements of mortality. His 
qualities were of so rare a type as to suggest an environ- 
ment of surpassing inspiration. He was born and 
brought up in the State of North Carolina. For nearly 
70 years he illustrated the virtue, the chivalry, the patriot- 
ism for which that Commonwealth is so signal a synonym. 
Moreover, the physical charm of the land of his birth 
stamped his budding years with a love of the beautiful, a 
reverence for the divine. For who, sir, may observe that 
stretch of peak and plain from the Blue Ridge to Raleigh 
Bay, the island chain that links the sounds of Currituck, 
of Albemarle, and Pamlico, the shores on which beats the 
music of the sea from Mooney Swamp to Kitty Hawk, the 
cypress and the cedar — nature's priesthood robed in moss, 
the forest floors all carpeted with shrub and plant of royal 
bloom, the azaleas and the goldenrods, the gorges and 
the valleys in which the Hiwassee, the French Broad, the 
Little Tennessee, the Yadkin, the Dan, the Roanoke, the 
Catawba bare silver bosoms to the sapphire skies, the 
Great Smoky, the Bald, and the Unaka Mountains gather- 
ing about their shoulders cloaks of spruce, of balsam, and 
of pine, while on their crests the rhododendrons cluster 
among flic clouds, without feeling thai in such a land 
men well may rise to the highest possibilities of ambition 
and achievement? 

Such were the surroundings amid which Joseph 
FORNEY Johnston obtained his first impressions of the 
world, surroundings that found appreciative response in 



[40] 



Address of Mr. Sheppard, of Texas 



every fiber of his being. To the last he remained the 
modest, unassuming, courageous, courteous gentleman of 
the South. The highest of honors could not alter, the 
heaviest of financial responsibilities could not modify, 
his unaffected, his genuine, his wholesome democracy of 
thought and conduct. His frank, clear eye, his vigorous 
handclasp, his straightforwardness of speech, all denoted 
a man who knew neither concealment nor indirection. 

While still a youth he became a Confederate soldier. 
When he joined the Confederate Army he signed a 
muster roll that will be called by angel lips through all 
eternity. He united with a band of men whose devotion 
to duty has furnished a prevision of the ultimate per- 
fection of humanity. What a welcome his comrades 
who had gone before must have given him as he reached 
the other shore! With what precision must this soldier 
of eternal life have answered the command to about face 
and to salute his God! What hallelujahs must shake the 
tabernacles of the blessed as each old soldier, blue or 
gray, arrives to take his place in the ranks that never 
break! 

They are purged of pride because they died, 

They know the worth of their bays; 
They sit at wine with the Maidens Nine 

And the Gods of the Elder Days — 
It is their will to serve or be still 

As fltteth our Father's praise. 

'Tis theirs to sweep through the surging deep 

Where Azrael's outposts are; 
Or buffet a path through the Pit's red mouth 

When God goes out to war, 
Or hang with the reckless Seraphim 

On the rein of a red-maned star. 



[41] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johns ion 

A northern historian has this to say of the Confederate 
Army : 

Who ran forget it that once looked upon it? That array of tat- 
tered uniforms and bright muskets — that body of incomparable 
soldiery, which for four years carried the revolt on its bayonets, 
opposing a constant front to the mighty concentration of power 
brought against it, which, receiving terrible blows, did not fail 
to give the like, and which, vital in all its parts, died only with 
its annihilation? 

Joseph Forney Johnston served four years in that 
army with a fidelity and courage that made him a typical 
Confederate soldier. He rose from private to captain, 
and was wounded four times. He contributed, therefore, 
as much as any other man of his toil and zeal and blood 
to make the military organization of the Confederacy 
worthy of the remarkable tribute to which I have alluded. 

After the conclusion of the war he became a stalwart 
figure in the rebuilding of the shattered South. He took 
up his residence in Alabama, that glorious Common- 
wealth which was to be the scene of his principal labors 
as a civilian. As a lawyer he was distinctly successful; 
as a banker he demonstrated business ability of the 
highest order. It is given to few men to achieve such 
eminence in both the profession of the law and the avoca- 
tion of banking as did Joseph Forney Johnston. But this 
is not all. He acquired so firm a place in the affection 
and admiration of his people that he was successively 
elevated to the positions of governor and United States 
Sena lor. In both capacities he displayed a statesman- 
ship as broad as it was practical. When the Democracy 
assumed control of the Senate and the Nation he was 
accorded prominent recognition by being made chairman 
of one of the Senate's great committees — the Committee 
OB Military Affairs. He gave patient and sympathetic 



[42] 



Address of Mr. Sheppard, of Texas 



attention to the petitions and appeals of the many who 
sought his consideration. His mind was a tribunal where 
every man had an equal chance, a fair and impartial 
hearing. In his relations with his brother Senators the 
attributes of a kind and generous nature, including an 
invincible good humor, were always in evidence. I re- 
call that as a new Member of this body I felt that I could 
always approach him for information or assistance with 
perfect freedom. He was dignified without reserve, firm 
without harshness, just without severity. His name is 
proudly linked with that of Alabama and the Nation. 

How false it is to say that such men die. His example 
has become a light to lead us to the higher and the nobler 
paths. It is a part of every life he touched while on this 
sphere, and it will be transmitted from heart to heart, 
from soul to soul, until the last mortal shall put on 
immortality. 



[43] 



Address of Mr. Ashurst, of Arizona 

Mr. President: When brought into the presence of 
death vast and shapeless forms and images come crowd- 
ing themselves on the mind faster than we can put them 
into words. We mournfully think of the closely hound 
ties of kin and fellowship violently sundered, of valuable 
attainments and accomplishments lost to the world, of 
rare and attractive gifts scattered and dispersed; we 
think of the instability of all things human, and especially 
of the instability of power, fame, and glory. We think 
of men and women of genius, industry, eloquence, wit, 
courage, imagination, and fertility of thought " molder- 
ing cold and low." We think of youth with its enthusi- 
asms, its high hopes, its illusions, and its dreams cut off 
in the morning of its beauty; we think of the dimpled, 
darling babe called to its " windowless palace of rest " 
before its little life had done aught else than enshrine 
itself as the pride and joy of its parents and the ruler of 
their hearts, and yet withal we think of death as the 
charitable softener of asperities and enmities, the courier 
of reconciliation to warring factions, and the messenger 
of silence, rest, repose, and peace. 

In Milton's description of death it is astonishing witli 
what a gloomy pomp, with what significant and impres- 
sive strokes and coloring the poet finishes the picture of 
the king of terrors: 

The other Shape — 
If shape it might he culled that shape had none 
Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb; 
Or substance might be called that shadow seemed, 
For each seem'd either — black it stood as Night, 
Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell, 
And shook a deadly dart: what seem'd his head 
The likeness of a kingly crown had on. 
[44] 



Address of Mr. Ashurst, of Arizona 

In all literature passages are to be found delineating, 
portraying, and vividly describing the horrors of sudden 
death. In all ages mankind has complained of the uncer- 
tainty of life, but upon candid and serious reflection we 
inevitably come to know that even if we possessed the 
power to draw aside the curtain which mercifully veils 
and conceals from us the exact time when we shall be- 
come a part of the awful enigma of the grave very few 
persons would avail themselves of such dubious privi- 
lege. In all probability those who dared thus to tran- 
scend the borders of the finite and gaze into the infinite 
would during their remaining years be wretchedly un- 
happy and would live a life of bitter and vain regret that 
they had so far presumed as to attempt to solve the great 
problem of human destiny — the problem of whence came 
we and whither are we going. 

If we knew the exact hour of our dissolution the appall- 
ing knowledge would overcast the pleasures and comforts 
of existence, it would hinder the improvement and indus- 
try of the human race, and would become an insupport- 
able mischief to human society, because we would then 
no longer concern ourselves with diversions, with pleas- 
ant conversation, with books, with laborious tasks, sci- 
ence, art, progress, cultivation, or with the business of 
living. Hence, the wisdom and goodness of God are vin- 
dicated and made manifest in His concealing from us 
knowledge as to the exact time of our death. 

It is to reflect upon the mystery of life and death, as 
well as to pay proper tribute to the memory of our late 
colleague, Senator Joseph Forney Johnston, that the 
Senate pauses in its labors to-day. Others more familiar 
with the life work of the dead Senator will relate the his- 
tory of his career. It will be fitting for me to submit a 
few simple words of appreciation of his acknowledged 
ability and courage. 

[45] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

As a flash of lightning in the dark sometimes discloses 
to our view weather-beaten pinnacles, storm-riven crags 
and domes and minarets in the mountains which years 
of daylight have not revealed to our eyes, just so a crisis, 
a dark or dangerous hour in a man's career, frequently 
calls our attention to some valuable attribute of char- 
acter, some rare virtue possessed by him which years of 
acquaintance and comradeship do not reveal to his 
closest friends. An example of Senator Johnston's 
rugged independence of thought and action was mani- 
fested one day in the Senate when he differed from the 
majority of the Senators on some grave question, and it 
was suggested that he would better abandon his views or 
suffer some reverse of his political successes. He replied 
in the following words: 

Mr. President, I entered the Confederate Army in April, 1861, 
because the State of Alabama had seceded from the Union, and I 
believed that their cause was righteous and that it was my duty 
so to do. For four long bloody years I followed the flag of Dixie; 
sometimes in defeat and often to victory. I became convinced 
before the surrender that we could not succeed, because we could 
not replace the brave men who fell on the field of battle. We 
were shut out from the world and could only draw recruits from 
the cradle. The idea never came into my mind that because we 
must inevitably fail I should desert to the enemy. I stood by my 
colors facing death and defeat until Lee and Johnston surren- 
dered the fragments of glorious armies whose fame will never 
die. The span of my years may be shortened by the shot stopped 
by my breast in that failing cause; but, all in all, my keenest satis- 
faction in the past rests not upon those moments when I swam 
with the tide, but when I bared my breast, with Ajax, and took 
the lightning, Mr. President. I refuse to save myself at the sacri- 
fice of my convictions and my honor. 

Such was the character of our departed colleague. He 
might break, but lie would not bend. After a life char- 
acterized by industry, courage, devotion to duty as he 

[46] 



Address of Mr. Ashurst, of Arizona 

saw it, success at the bar, and distinguished service as 
governor of Alabama and in the Senate of the United 
States he met death with that tranquil and decorous 
fortitude which marked his labors here. He has at last 
reached the place where the path of every life will end, 
and is to-day resting in that beautiful island valley of 
Avalon, where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow. 



[47] 



Address of Mb. Williams, of Mississippi 

Mr. President: When I was first elected to fill a seat 
in the House of Representatives I had been strenuously 
supported by an old comrade who had been a schoolmate 
at the primary school, at college, and at the university. 
It was only natural that I should say to him that I was 
at his behest for any service "within my cable tow." He 
responded, "John, I don't want and won't want anything 
except one thing; I want each year a copy of the Congres- 
sional Directory, so that I may read the autobiographical 
sketches that Representatives and Senators prepare of 
themselves. I love to study human nature, and especially 
the human nature of those 'drest in a little brief author- 
ity.'" That utterance struck me then as cynical; it has 
struck me afterwards as wisdom. I think I may safely 
say that the chief recorded line of demarcation to be 
found between men who are wise and men who are other- 
wise, elected to these two Houses, may be found in these 
sketches in the Congressional Directory. One man tells 
about his ancestors, whom he married, the names of his 
children, boasts of his achievements and his "popularity 
with the people," foretells what a figure he is going to 
be — the prophecy antedating his swearing in — and some- 
times takes a vicious under-the-rib dagger stroke from 
this safe vantage ground at his political or personal ene- 
mies, and thereby "writes himself down ass," as Dog- 
berry proudly insisted that he should he written down. 
This soil of man belongs to the class who take themselves 
seriously. To take one's work seriously is one thing; to 
take oneself seriously is another. The former rule of 



[48] 



Address of Mr. Williams, of Mississippi 

guidance is needful and helpful; the latter is confusing, 
self-destructive, and foolish — vanitas vanitatum. 

A wholesome sense of humor is the only corrective for 
those of the latter class. This wholesome sense of humor 
in its turn grows out of the conscious viewing of oneself 
as a part only of all humanity and all humanity as a 
part only of God's universe. No man who habitually 
thinks that thought can find any reason why " the soul 
of mortal should be proud." Such a man with such a 
thought is to himself only a part of his allotted work. 
I have clipped from the Congressional Directory ex- 
Senator Johnston's short sketch of himself. Here it is: 

Joseph Forney Johnston, Democrat, of Birmingham, was born 
in North Carolina in 1843; quit school to join the Confederate 
Army as a private in March, 1861; served during the war, was 
wounded four times, and rose to the rank of captain; practiced 
law 17 years; was a banker 10 years; was elected governor of 
Alabama in 1896 and reelected in 1898, serving 4 years; never 
sought or held any office other than governor and Senator. He 
was unanimously elected to the United States Senate by the legis- 
lature August 6, receiving the Republican as well as Democratic 
vote, to All out the unexpired portion of the term of Hon. E. W, 
Pettus, deceased, ending March 3, 1909, also for the term ending 
March 3, 1915. 

It is multum in parvo, and bears the impress of intel- 
lectual humility. Not a word about the Johnstons, one 
of the best and most useful families of the Old North 
State; not a word about the Forneys, several of whom 
have been so prominent that their names became house- 
hold words in the State of Alabama, to which State Joe 
Johnston moved. Here we find only the bare facts with- 
out boast or embellishment; only that he had been pri- 
vate, captain, lawyer, banker, governor, Senator — not a 
word about bearing himself greatly in each capacity. 
Only once is there the appearance even of claiming any 



[49] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

superiority over anyone, and that consists in the recital 
of the fact that as a Confederate soldier "he was 
wounded four times." Others may have been wounded 
only once or twice or not at all, but he wants his friends 
to remember that he was wounded four times. His scars 
alone are referred to as a badge of honor, and those scars 
received in battling for a cause which went down, not 
for a victorious and applauded cause. Several things are 
true, which he does not tell you; he was promoted from 
the ranks for gallantry; he never swerved in loyalty to 
the cause he espoused nor afterwards in loyalty to a re- 
united country. Most men boast of being self-made; not 
lie, with better cause than most. 

He never utters a word of regret that his volunteering 
to "live and die for Dixie" left him half educated; nor 
a word about his self-teaching and the wide range of 
attentive reading whereby he sought to make up for his 
lack of schooling; nor a word to the effect that despite 
this great disadvantage, thus in a great sense overcome, 
he became and for years continued to be one of the best 
and most completely well-grounded lawyers in the State 
of Alabama; not a word of his universally recognized 
business capacity as a banker; not a word of the truth 
that his record as governor was so honest and true and 
faithful to platform, party, and people, and so intelligent 
that golden opinions from all, friend and foe, came to be 
his part. You infer it only from the recital of the bare 
fact that he was ••unanimously elected by the Alabama 
Legislature to the Senate" — all factions of the Democracy 
and all the Republicans, as well, voting for him. I first 
knew him after I became a Member of this body, lie at- 
tracted the love of all who became intimate with him by 
his sterling common sense, his honesty of purpose, and 
his sly and acute and genial sense of humor. Even those 
who were the butt of it enjoyed it. No malice entered 

[50] 



Address of Mr. Williams, of Mississippi 

into it. He possessed honesty, courage, knowledge of self, 
and love of truth. These four are the cardinal virtues 
of man. Their opposites are the only sources of sin and 
evil in this world. I will not say that "none knew him 
but to love him." That can be said with truth of no 
strong man. But I will say that no generous, honest, and 
brave soul ever came in contact with his without recog- 
nizing a kindred spirit. Not for us to say — God has 
already said: "Requiescat in pace." He finds, Mr. Presi- 
dent, his best monument in our memories. 



[51] 



Address of Mr. White, of Alabama 

Mr. President: I prize the distinction of being the im- 
mediate successor in this body of the late Senator Joseph 
Forney Johnston. I esteem as a privilege the oppor- 
tunity of participating in the proceedings by which we 
are paying tribute to his memory. 

I did not know him in his early life, nor am I as fa- 
miliar with his services in the Senate as are many of you 
who were associated in service with him. I shall there- 
fore speak very briefly of those periods of his life, leav- 
ing them for others who have more accurate and detailed 
information. 

I did know him, however, through many years of his 
active business and political career. I knew enough of 
him, I think, to enable me to form a fair estimate of his 
character and qualities. 

He was a North Carolinian by birth, an Alabamian by 
adoption. The former State nurtured him in childhood 
and equipped him for the struggles and duties of life; 
the latter opened to him the way on which he traveled 
to business and political success. 

Willi the equipment furnished by the one and the 
opportunity presented by the other, he entered earnestly 
upon life's arduous task. Both States watched his up- 
ward progress with a selfish, lively interest; both felt 
proud of his achievements. He did not disappoint either, 
but reflected credit on them both. 

He possessed characteristics which gave proof of his 

Scotch-Irish descent. He had the humor and wit of the 

Irish, the deliberation, persistence, and keen insight of 

the Scotch. In social life he showed the Irish traits; in 

[52] 



Address of Mr. White, of Alabama 



his business and political undertakings he manifested the 
Scotch qualities. These inherited gifts performed for 
him useful service; they were ever naturally and conven- 
iently at hand to do his bidding. 

Senator Johnston was endowed with a strong native 
intellect, which he assiduously cultivated throughout his 
life. His attainments were of a high order. While his 
college course was interrupted — in fact, cut off — by his 
participation as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War, 
he nevertheless by his own efforts acquired a liberal edu- 
cation. His range of information was extensive and 
varied. It embraced not only much learning that was 
classic, but also current literature. He was not only a 
student of books but of men and their concerns; he ob- 
served their conduct, saw the objects of their pursuits, 
and in this wise divined their motives. It was the knowl- 
edge obtained in this way that enabled him to control and 
lead them. His look was prospective; he beheld the 
panoramic view of real life. He mixed and mingled with 
it. Life to him was real, and he was real life. He saw 
the struggling masses; they had his sympathy and help. 

He was a lawyer by profession; he possessed skill and 
ability as such, and in his young manhood was successful 
in the practice. He had, however, not practiced law for 
a number of years immediately prior to his death. He 
was an active, successful business man; he followed it 
with zest; but his specialty was the banking business. 
He was accomplished in this line. He was devoted to it; 
he studied its principles; he understood its philosophy; 
he actively participated in it for many years as president 
of a large and successful banking institution. He engaged 
in other important industrial and business enterprises, in 
all of which he attained success. 

His decided leaning, however, was for public affairs. 
He was a close and apt student of them, viewing them 

[53] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

from many angles, understanding and comprehending 
their underlying principles. He had long and practical 
experience in dealing with them; he demonstrated his 
capacity for handling them. 

The chief characteristic of our departed friend was 
his great will power. It was a boyhood trait; it con- 
tinued with him to the end; il seldom bent; it never 
broke. When he brought it into play on a course of 
conduct he adhered to that course with a tenacity of 
purpose that bordered on stubbornness. He never called 
into action this faculty in light or trivial matters, but only 
when some principle in which he believed was involved 
or when some preconceived plan was questioned. His 
plans were well considered before they were adopted; 
when adopted they were intended to be followed, and 
were followed wherever they led. When they were 
assailed he listened with patience to his friends who 
opposed them, gave full consideration to their views, and 
when fully convinced that they were right he changed 
his course, but he was rarely convinced and seldom 
changed. 

His iron will, backed by his natural abilities and varied 
accomplishments, made him an attractive figure in all 
the spheres of life in which he moved, a dominant force 
in many of them. 

He was inclined by nature to be a partisan; certainly he 
had pronounced views on all matters of importance. His 
convictions on political questions especially were tena- 
ciously and obstinately maintained. 

In politics he was a Democrat. By some it may he 
thought that this was the result of environment and train- 
ing. This is not my view. I think he was a member of 
the Democratic Party because he believed in its catho- 
licity, in its ability and disposition to serve all the people 
of the country— the entire country. He regarded it as the 

[54] 



Address of Mr. White, of Alabama 



foe of special interests of the favored few. He was 
steeped in its principles, controlled by its purposes, 
thrilled by its achievements. He was every ready to 
champion its cause, to give battle to its enemies; he met 
them on every field. He fought them, as was his custom, 
with courage and persistence. 

In political conflicts he was a real gladiator, giving 
blow for blow and ofttimes two for one. He smote his 
enemy hard but fair, asked no quarter and gave none, 
until his enemy had fallen. 

To those who opposed him or were unfriendly he was 
reserved; in fact, austere. He held aloof from them and 
kept them at arms' length. To his friends he was ap- 
proachable and genial. To them he was confiding, ex- 
cept in the graver and more serious concerns of life; in 
these he was reserved even with them. 

He loved his friends; he trusted them and enjoyed their 
association. He added much to their comfort and hap- 
piness. He owed them much for their loyal support. 

Senator Johnston was a favorite in social life; he en- 
joyed it himself, and helped to make others enjoy it. 
He enlivened it with his wit, brightened it with his humor, 
charmed it with his proverbial good nature. 

In domestic life he was a paragon. Happily married 
in early life, he was blessed with a continuation of the 
union until his own sad death severed the bond. He 
appreciated the obligations and responsibilities imposed 
by the wedded vow; he observed them with marked 
fidelity. 

He was fortunate in his selection of a wife; she made 
his life and career a part of her own. In early life with 
him she faced its conflicts and endured its hardships. 
Later she shared in his disappointments and his tri- 
umphs. In some of his political disappointments he must 
have felt the need of her sympathy, for they were real 



[55] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

disappointments. Once he had the senatorial toga almost 
within his grasp, when it was snatched from him. Thrice 
he was near the governorship of his Stale, when ashes 
took the place of his hopes; but they both lived to see 
these defeats reversed by his being called to fill the very 
places which had been denied him. She was to him a 
loving, faithful, confiding companion; he, in turn, cher- 
ished, loved, and honored her. Their union was blessed 
with a number of children, all of whom were boys, as I 
remember. He was to them a firm, devoted, generous 
father. 

This well-ordered and happy home life, filled with 
comfort and pleasure, unmixed with strife and pain, 
must have been prized by him more than all of life 
besides. To me it seems his greatest achievement. 

Mr. President, the subject of these exercises in his early 
life adopted high moral standards by which he was to be 
guided. He never lowered them or failed to adhere to 
them; his conduct and mode of life were clean; they fur- 
nished a fit example to be followed by all. 

He had deep, sincere religious convictions; they con- 
trolled him in his daily deportment; they abided with 
him in all the vicissitudes of a varied life; they were not 
expedients with him, but convictions that guided and con- 
trolled the whole course of his life. He lived fully up to 
his religious obligations; he never brought reproach upon 
his church or his brethren. The light of his religious life 
was never bid, never obscured; it shone alike in pros- 
perity and adversity. 

Senator Johnston's political career, though successful, 
was a stormy one; it dates back to the close of the Civil 
War. The peace that Gen. Grant declared and asked to 
let our section have did not come, in fact, though the war 
itself had closed. The soldiers on both sides returned to 
their homes, those of the North to be welcomed and hon- 



[56] 



Address of Mr. White, of Alabama 



ored by a grateful country. Their political status was as 
good as, if not better than, it was when they enlisted. 
Their section had lost much by the war, but had gained 
more than it lost. 

The soldiers of the South returned to their homes with- 
out means and faced a country made desolate by the rav- 
ages of war. This they expected to find on their return. 
It was a natural consequence flowing to the section that 
had been invaded and overcome in the armed conflict. 
It took heroes to meet and battle with this situation; but 
this was not the full penalty inflicted upon us by our 
conquerors — for they were, indeed, conquerors — as the 
men on both sides, in the hate and passions engendered 
by war, had forgotten the brotherhood that bound them 
together. The people of the North had not only defeated 
us in war, but they misunderstood us; they doubted our 
loyalty to the institutions of our fathers, and doubted our 
good faith in observing the promises we made when we 
renewed our allegiance to the Union. As a consequence, 
they denied our right to participate in the politics of our 
common country, to share in its responsibilities and its 
rewards; they supplanted us with an ignorant and ava- 
ricious horde, whose purpose it was to strip us not only 
of the property which the waste and exigencies of war 
had left, but to humiliate us beyond endurance. We saw 
that in its far-reaching consequences this situation was 
more ruinous, more appalling even, than that which had 
resulted from war; we saw not only our financial ruin, 
but saw that we had lost our liberties. 

We reread our parole and saw that this cruel, unnec- 
essary penalty was not written in the pact made for us 
between Grant and Lee at Appomattox. We rebelled and 
entered upon a war against reconstruction. It was in this 
just cause that Joseph F. Johnston enlisted as a political 
warrior and led the citizens of his adopted State to vic- 



[57] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

tory, and with them unfurled the banner of white su- 
premacy, placed it beside the Stars and Stripes on the 
spire of our capitol, where since they have floated to- 
gether in peace and harmony, evincing our loyalty to the 
Union, our devotion to race integrity and race supremacy. 

Mr. President and Senators, it was his valiant and suc- 
cessful leadership in this struggle for race preservation 
that endeared your late associate to the people of Ala- 
bama. As a recognition of his services and sacrifices 
made for them in this the darkest hour of their country's 
history, the people of that State twice elected him as their 
governor and commissioned him to sit in this Chamber, 
where he served until the final summons came calling him 
to a higher service, a greater reward. 

Mr. President, the brightest jewel in the crown of the 
distinguished dead was that won by him as a Confederate 
soldier. When a mere youth his country claimed of him 
the greatest sacrifice possible for man to make — it asked 
him to lay his life upon her altar. She obtained from him 
a willing and prompt response. He enlisted as a private 
soldier; by gallant conduct and faithful service he rose to 
the rank of captain. 

Others preceding me have mentioned many of his 
brave deeds, much of his daring conduct; they have 
pointed to the hardships and privations endured by him, 
the long and arduous marches he made. They have per- 
formed this gracious service much better than I can. 
Allow me to say, however, that he was foremost among 
that heroic band that followed the Stars and Bars that 
floated over the Army of Virginia. He was noted for 
the cheerfulness with which he underwent hardships, 
with which he endured privations, for his disposition to 
encourage others, his soldierly bearing, his manly con- 
duct, for his courage and coolness in battle. His gal- 
lantry in the battle at Spottsylvania Court House was such 

[58] 



Address of Mr. White, of Alabama 



as to attract the personal attention of Gen. Robert E. Lee, 
who observed him by the side of another young officer 
dash forward in advance of their command to capture a 
flag that was posted on the breastworks of the enemy. 
It was an inspiring scene to those who beheld it. They 
were so evenly matched in the race that it could not be 
told which would obtain the prize. Just as they were 
reaching out their hands to seize it one of them fell, 
stricken to the ground, wounded by a bullet from the 
ranks of the enemy. The one who had fallen was none 
other than the man whose memory we are commemorat- 
ing. His gallantry was so conspicuous on this occasion 
that Gen. Lee made special mention of it in compliment- 
ing him and his command for the part they took in that 
battle. 

Throughout the sanguinary struggle between the States 
he performed a notable and worthy part. While the life 
which he offered to his country was not required at her 
hands, her soil was sanctified with his blood, shed on 
many battle fields. He wore upon his body numerous 
scars which he received for his country's sake and in 
which were preserved his country's honor. 

Mr. President, when for the want of men and muni- 
tions it became impossible for the South to longer con- 
tinue the unequal conflict, this young hero, with a mere 
fragment of the gallant army that followed Lee, laid 
down his arms at his country's bidding as he had taken 
them up at her command. 

The only excuse he or they ever gave for this act was 
that Lee had ordered it. This was enough; they never 
doubted his wisdom; they never questioned his authority. 
The name of Joseph F. Johnston, if otherwise undistin- 
guished, will go down in history associated with the name 
of Robert E. Lee and the dauntless band that followed 
and fought with him. This itself is sufficient to forever 



[59] 



Memorial Addresses : Senator Johnston 

endear it to and enshrine it in the memory of the people 
he loved with all his heart and served with all of his 
ability. 

Mr. President, I offer the following resolution: 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased the Senate do now adjourn. 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to; and the 
Senate (at 2 o'clock and 10 minutes p. m.) adjourned 
until Monday, January 11, 1915, at 12 o'clock meridian. 



[60] 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

Friday, August 8, 1913. 
A message from the Senate, by Mr. Tulley, one of its 
clerks, announced that the Senate had passed the follow- 
ing resolutions : 

In the Senate of the United States, 

August 8, 1913. 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep regret and pro- 
found sorrow of the death of the Hon. Joseph Forney Johnston, 
late a Senator from the State of Alabama. 

Resolved, That a committee of 17 Senators be appointed by the 
Vice President to take order for superintending the funeral of 
Mr. Johnston. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect his remains be re- 
moved from his late home in this city to Birmingham, Ala., for 
burial, in charge of the Sergeant at Arms, attended by the com- 
mittee, who shall have full power to carry these resolutions into 
effect. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to 
the House of Representatives. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased Senator the Senate do now adjourn. 

In compliance with the foregoing the Vice President appointed 
as said committee Mr. Bankhead, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Overman, Mr. 
Chamberlain, Mr. Hitchcock, Mr. Clarke of Arkansas, Mr. Varda- 
man, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Swanson, Mr. Smith of South Carolina, Mr. 
Thornton, Mr. Gallinger, Mr. Warren, Mr. Bristow, Mr. Catron, Mr. 
Brady, and Mr. Kenyon. 

Mr. Underwood. Mr. Speaker, it is my sad duty to 
announce to the House the death of the Hon. Joseph F. 
Johnston, of Alabama. 



[61] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

At a later date I will ask the House to set apart a clay 
td pay proper respect to his memory. I now move the 
adoption of the following resolution. 

The SPEAKER. The Clerk will report the resolution. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

House Resolution 225 

Resolved, That the House lias heard with profound sorrow and 
sincere regret of the death of the Hon. Joseph F. Johnston, late 
a Senator from the State of Alabama. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate and send a copy thereof to the family of the deceased 
Senator. 

Resolved, That a committee of 17 Members of the House, with 
such Members of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to 
attend the funeral. 

The resolution was agreed to, and the Speaker an- 
nounced as the committee on the part of the House Mr. 
Underwood, Mr. Clayton, Mr. Taylor of Alabama, Mr. 
Richardson, Mr. Hobson, Mr. Burnett, Mr. Heflin, Mr. 
Dent, Mr. Blackmon, Mr. Ahercrombie, Mr. Webb, Mr. 
Howard, Mr. Austin, Mr. Towner. Mr. Norton, Mr. Kelley 
of Michigan, Mr. Cullop, Mr. McKellar, and Mr. Bell of 
California. 

Mr. Underwood. Mr. Speaker, I move the adoption of 
the following resolution. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the resolution. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respeel to the memory of 
the deceased Senator the House do now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 12 o'clock 
and 53 minutes p. m.) the House, in accordance with the 
order heretofore adopted, adjourned until Tuesday, 
August 12, 1913, at 12 o'clock noon. 



[62] 



Proceedings in the House 



Monday, January 4, 1915. 

Mr. Underwood. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous con- 
sent for the present consideration of the order which I 
send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker. The gentleman asks unanimous consent 
for the present consideration of a resolution, which the 
Clerk will report. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

House resolution 693 

Resolved, That Sunday, January 31, 1915, be set apart for serv- 
ices upon the life, character, and public services of Hon. Joseph 
F. Johnston, late a Senator from the State of Alabama, and of 
the Hon. William Richardson, late a Representative from the 
State of Alabama. 

The Speaker. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

The resolution was agreed to. 

Saturday, January 9, 1915. 
The committee informally rose; and Mr. Ferris having 
taken the chair as Speaker pro tempore, a message from 
the Senate, by Mr. Tulley, one of its clerks, announced 
that the Senate had passed the following resolution: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of 
the death of the Hon. Joseph F. Johnston, late a Senator from the 
State of Alabama. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the de- 
ceased the business of the Senate be now suspended to enable his 
associates to pay proper tribute to his high character and distin- 
guished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a copy 
thereof to the family of the deceased. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased the Senate do now adjourn. 

[63] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

Sunday, January 31, 1915. 

The House met at 12 o'clock noon and was called to 
order by Mr. Underwood, Speaker pro tempore. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered 
the following prayer: 

Infinite and eternal energy, our God and our Father, 
out of whose heart came life and all its possibilities, the 
wisdom that illumines, the faith that sustains, the hope 
that cheers, the love which binds us together into friend- 
ship and families, we are here to-day because of these 
indissoluble ties in memory of two souls who have 
answered the summons and passed into the great beyond 
from whence no traveler returns. To recall their deeds, 
sing their praises, is to put an estimate on their virtues. 
We thank Thee that the good in man lives to inspire 
others to the nobler virtues. These men were chosen 
servants of the people because in them were ability, in- 
tegrity, honesty, zeal, high ideals, and lofty purposes, 
and though they have passed on they live in the hearts 
of their countrymen. May those who knew and loved 
them best look forward to a reunion in one of the 
Father's many mansions where the ties of friendship and 
love will never again be severed. And songs of praises 
we will ever give to Thee in the name of Him who taught 
us faith, hope, love. Amen. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will read a letter 
from the Speaker. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

January 29, 1915. 
Hon. South Trimble, 

Clerk of the House: 
I hereby designate Hon. Oscar W. Underwood, of Alabama, as 
Speaker pro tempore to preside on Sunday, January 31, 1915. 
Your friend. 

Champ Clark. 

[64] 



Proceedings in the House 



The Speaker pro tempore. Without objection, the ap- 
proval of the Journal of yesterday will be postponed 
until to-morrow. [After a pause.] The Chair hears none. 
The Clerk will read the special order. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

On motion of Mr. Underwood, by unanimous consent, 
Ordered, That Sunday, January 31, 1915, be set apart for serv- 
ices upon the lives, character, and public services of Hon. Joseph 
F. Johnston, late a Senator from the State of Alabama, and Hon. 
William Richardson, late a Representative from the State of 
Alabama. 

Mr. Blackmon assumed the chair as Speaker pro 
tempore. 

Mr. Underwood. Mr. Speaker, I offer the resolutions 
which I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended that 
an opportunity may be given for tribute to the memory of the 
Hon. Joseph F. Johnston, late a Member of the United States 
Senate from the State of Alabama, and to the memory of the Hon. 
William Richardson, late a Member of the House of Representa- 
tives from the State of Alabama. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased and in recognition of their eminent abilities as dis- 
tinguished public servants the House at the conclusion of these 
memorial proceedings shall stand adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk be instructed to send a copy of these 
resolutions to the families of the deceased. 

Mr. Underwood. Mr. Speaker, I move the adoption of 
the resolutions. 

The question was taken, and the resolutions were 
unanimously agreed to. 



[65] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES. 



Address of Mr. Underwood, of Alabama 

Mr. Speaker : We meet to-day to do honor to the mem- 
ory of comrades who have fallen on the battle field of 
life's great struggle. We mourn their loss; we cherish 
their memory; we love the recollection of their friend- 
ship; and we honor the high character, the sterling cour- 
age, and the purity of purpose that were so eminently 
portrayed in the lives of our departed colleagues. 

I could ask no higher privilege and find no sweeter duty 
than the right to place on the records of this House my 
remembrances of Alabama's great son, the late Senator 
Joseph Forney Johnston. 

He was born in North Carolina in the year 1843. When 
only a schoolboy he joined the Confederate Army in 
March, 1861, served during the entire war, was four times 
wounded in battle, and rose to the rank of captain. 

At the close of the War between the States he made his 
home in Alabama, and for 17 years practiced law in 
Selma, Ala., with marked ability and success, retiring 
from the active practice to engage in banking in Birming- 
ham for 10 years, when he was elected governor of Ala- 
bama, serving the people for 4 years with exceptional 
ability. 

He was unanimously elected to the United States Senate 
by the Legislature of Alabama to serve out the unexpired 
term of the Hon. Edmund W. Pettus, ending March 3, 
1909, and also for the full term ending March 3, 1915. 
He died in the city of Washington on the 8th day of 
August, 1913, at his post of duty. 

[67] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

From the time he first made his home in Alabama until 
his death Senator Johnston actively participated in pub- 
lic affairs. He was there during what is called the "re- 
construction period" and was a leader in the movement 
by her citizens to drive from the conduct of her affairs the 
carpetbaggers and their ignorant coadjutors, to end dis- 
cord and corruption, and to restore to the intelligent and 
the virtuous the State government. That being secured, 
Alabama began a period of advancement and develop- 
ment which the world is coming to appreciate. If a story 
of Senator Johnston's life were written from 1874 until 
the date of his death it would tell of nearly every impor- 
tant movement connected with the history of the State 
itself, so closely was he identified with its political, ma- 
terial, and educational development and policies. He 
was active in promoting its development. He was inter- 
ested in whatever tended to the advancement of Alabama 
and her people. He was willing "to spend and be spent" 
in her interest, and his willingness to serve gave occasion 
for many drafts upon his time and energies which he 
always tried to honor. As a consequence he drew to him 
a very large number of loyal friends and supporters in 
all parts of the State who implicitly followed his lead 
upon all questions. His influence was accordingly far- 
reaching, and, be it said to his credit, his influence was 
for good. 

Senator Johnston whs a man of positive convictions 
and firm purpose. When he had decided upon his course 
his perseverance and persistence in following it account 
for much of his success. His political life illustrates 
these qualities. He was defeated for the gubernatorial 
nomination in his own party and then was twice elected 
by it as governor. He was likewise defeated for Senator 
and then was twice elected as Senator, once to till out 
an unexpired term and then for a full term. In these 

[68] 



Address of Mr. Underwood, of Alabama 

battles he naturally gave and received hard blows, but 
he lived to see the day when many strong men who had 
been pronounced in their opposition to some of his views 
became his most active supporters, for they realized 
that whatever view he urged, it was an honest view; 
that whatever purpose he had, it was a manly and up- 
right one; and whatever conviction he entertained, he 
had the courage to support it. When he found the way 
of duty, he never flinched in following it. And it is but 
natural that such a man tied men to him. 

Behind a reserved and apparently cold exterior Senator 
Johnston had a heart that was very tender. He was re- 
sponsive to the calls of charity and, without ostentation, 
he aided many needy ones. His love for the old Con- 
federate veterans who were in need amounted almost to 
a passion. He cherished the memory of the days when 
as a mere boy he fought for the South; and, assuming 
that all honorable men would give him credit for honesty 
of conviction, he had no unkind words for those whom 
he opposed in war, and met all men upon the dead level 
of personal integrity and manhood. But the old Con- 
federate soldiers never appealed to him in vain. When 
he became governor they did not always address him 
by that title, and when he became Senator they did not 
call him Senator. They preferred, and he liked to be 
called by them, " Captain." 

Senator Johnston's life was a successful one. His few 
political disappointments seemed but to nerve him for 
another combat, and he won. His character and life are 
well worth study by the young men of his adopted 
State, and because of the elements of force to be found 
in it we can see the reason he succeeded. But not alone 
in his work as lawyer, banker, business man, and states- 
man do we find the inspiration of his activities, for back 
of these, as back of all strong American life and hope, is 

[69] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

the home. And it was in his beautiful home life that 
Senator Johnston shone at his best. There he was the 
devoted husband and affectionate father, and there he 
received the homage that kindness and sympathy and 
love elicit, and there he placed upon his children "the 
imperishable knighthood" of the Fifth Commandment. 

Senator Johnston possessed the elements of real great- 
ness. His character was strong; his standards lofty. He 
worked hard and perseveringly. He died at his post of 
duty, and I have no doubt that if it had been given him 
to choose the place of his death the choice would have 
been to die while in the discharge of a duty. He left us 
the good example of his life, and to his family he left the 
heritage of a good name. 

When Earth's last picture is painted, 

And the tubes are twisted and dried, 
When the oldest colors have faded, 

And the youngest critic has died, 
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it — 

Lie down for an aeon or two: 
Till the Master of all good workmen 

Shall set us to work anew. 

And only the Master shall praise us, 

And only the Master shall blame; 
And no one shall work for money, 

And no one shall work for fame; 
But each for the joy of the working, 

And each in his separate star 
Shall draw the Thing as he sees it 

l-'or the God of Things as They Are! 



[70] 



Address of Mr. Webb, of North Carolina 

Mr. Speaker: It is but proper that we pause for a few 
moments and turn aside from the duties of the hour to 
say a word of those who have been our coworkers but 
who have been called to their reward. 

Joseph Forney Johnston was unanimously elected to 
the United States Senate by the Legislature of Alabama 
August 6, 1907, to fill out the unexpired term of Hon. 
E. W. Pettus, deceased, ending March 3, 1909. He was 
then reelected for the full term expiring March 3, 1915. 
While still in the service of his country as Senator from 
Alabama, on August 8, 1913, he died at his post of duty 
in the city of Washington. 

I and the people whom I represent are proud to claim 
a peculiar interest in his record and achievements. 

On March 23, 1843, he was born at Mount Welcome, on 
the banks of the Catawba River, in Lincoln County, N. C, 
which is in the district I have the honor to represent. 
His early youth was spent at Mount Welcome on his 
father's extensive estate, consisting of about 2,500 acres 
of land, on which were operated iron forges, flour and 
saw mills, in addition to the farm. He first attended a 
school in the neighborhood which was maintained and 
supported by the community composed of his father, 
Dr. William Johnston, Rev. Dr. Robert Hall Morrison, 
Dr. Hunter, the Cahills, and the Rosells. From there 
he went to Catawba College, at Newton, N. C, which 
was under the management of Maj. Finger, afterwards 
superintendent of public instruction in North Carolina. 
He then spent some time at the Charlotte Military Insti- 
tute under Gen. D. H. Hill, and later, about 1859, he went 
to Alabama and entered the Wetumpka Military School. 

[71] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

His father's home was a center of culture, refinement, 
and genial hospitality. Its environments were whole- 
some and pleasant, such as should bring out the manly 
qualities of the boy. Those acquainted with him in his 
early youth tell us that young Johnston was always a 
sturdy, manly boy from his earliest days and possessed 
much dry humor. As illustrating this they relate of him 
that when he was only about 6 years old the ball of bees- 
wax used for the thread in sewing was missing. Some 
one said, " I think Josie has it." He stood before them, 
looked into their faces, and said, " Search me." They did 
and found the missing beeswax. 

Although he left North Carolina at an early age and set- 
tled in Alabama, where he spent the active years of his 
life, he never lost interest in his native State. He could 
not outlive the feeling that the old Johnston homestead in 
Lincoln County, where his ancestors lie buried, was his 
home and the people around it his neighbors and friends. 
His friends in North Carolina always felt that should an 
occasion arise where they needed his help they had in 
him a true friend and advocate. 

He was truly of the aristocracy of the South. He held 
this rank because of his gentle birth, as well as his manly 
traits of character. In his veins mingled the blood of the 
Scotch-Irish, the Huguenot, and the Swiss people, blended 
to form a character possessed of modesty and gentleness, 
yet grand in heroic suffering and chivalric daring. 

His paternal grandfather, Col. James Johnston, was an 
active patriot throughout the American Revolution, and 
one of the immortal heroes of the battle of Kings 
Mountain. 

His maternal grandfather, Gen. Peter Forney, was like- 
wise a patriot and gallant soldier in the cause of Ameri- 
can freedom. His father was a French Huguenot and 



[72] 



Address of Mr. Webb, of North Carolina 

his mother a Swiss. Gen. Forney served in both branches 
of his State legislature, represented his district in the 
Thirtieth Congress, and was a presidential elector on the 
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Jackson tickets. 

With such an ancestry it is not strange that when the 
South took up arms in behalf of her independence he 
and his four brothers, Gen. Robert D., William H., Capt. 
James F., and Bartlett S. Johnston, entered the Con- 
federate service and were loyal and gallant soldiers. 

When the war commenced Senator Johnston was at- 
tending high school at Talladega, Ala. He enlisted at 
the age of 18 in Company I, Eighteenth Alabama Regi- 
ment, April 21, 1861, as a private, and was mustered 
into service at Auburn in that State. This company was 
under the command of Capt. Mickle and was known as 
the Shelby Rifles. In the same year he was made orderly 
sergeant. He was in the Battle of Shiloh, and in the rear- 
guard fight at Iuka, where he was promoted to second 
lieutenant by Gen. Bragg. He had his right arm broken 
while in the Battle of Chickamauga. It is related of him 
that in that battle, while lying down under fire, a canteen 
some yards in front of him was repeatedly hit by bullets. 
He crawled out and, throwing it away, said, " That thing 
makes me nervous." He was with Gen. Bragg in his 
march to Kentucky and in the Battle of Perryville. He 
was transferred to the Army of Northern Virginia as 
aid-de-camp on the staff of Gen. Robert D. Johnston, his 
brother, and later appointed captain of Company A, 
Twelfth North Carolina Regiment. 

A shell exploded over his head at the Battle of Spott- 
sylvania, causing him to bleed freely from the eyes, ears, 
nose, and mouth, and disabling him for duty for some 
time. He was with Gen. Early in all the fighting in the 
valley of Virginia until again wounded by a shell in the 
right ribs. He fell from his horse and was left on 'the 

[73] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

field. Late in the night he regained consciousness and 
had the presence of mind to work the piece of shell out 
of his side and stop the flow of blood by the use of his 
handkerchief. 

As evidence of his cool daring it is related that while 
he was in the fight in the Wilderness a shell plowed a 
furrow in front of where he was lying and he imme- 
diately crawled into the furrow. A soldier called to him 
to come back, but he calmly replied, " They can't hit Here 
again." 

He was again wounded by a shell, this time in the left 
side, at Hares Hall, on March 25, 1865. In this fight Gen. 
Robert D. Johnston fell and sprained his ankle; Capt. 
Nicholson was killed; and Capt. Hayne Davis, of Gen. 
Johnston's staff, lost his right arm. 

After the war was over he and his companion, Maj. 
Burton, went to Alabama to bravely battle against the 
adverse conditions and to give their best efforts to the 
rebuilding of the South. When Senator Johnston 
started out for Alabama on his new task he carried with 
him a mule and an ambulance which he had brought 
back from the war. His less fortunate friend had only 
a mule. Senator Johnston stopped in Jacksonville and 
studied law under his first cousin, Gen. H. Forney. He 
sold the ambulance and mule, and from them obtained 
sufficient funds to live on until he was licensed to practice 
law. He then went to Selma, Ala., and worked in the 
law offices of Pettus & Harolson. After practicing with 
them for a short time he formed a partnership with R. M. 
Nelson. Soon after this he was elected chairman of the 
Democratic executive committee for the State, and con- 
ducted the reconstruction campaign in which Alabama 
was redeemed. 

He was a delegate to the Chicago convention that 
noihinated Mr. Cleveland for President. He was, how- 

[74] 



Address of Mr. Webb, of North Carolina 

ever, a loyal supporter of Mr. Bayard to the finish. There 
were with him in this delegation seven of his cousins, who 
were also for Mr. Bayard. When the convention contest 
was on he was approached and virtually promised politi- 
cal control in Alabama if he would lead the delegation 
over to Mr. Cleveland, but his reply was that "I am for 
Bayard all the time." 

He continued to live and practice law in Selma for 
about 18 years, after which time he moved to Birmingham 
and accepted the presidency of the Alabama National 
Bank. In 1896 and again in 1898 he was elected governor 
of the State of Alabama, serving four years. 

In presenting this brief review of the life and achieve- 
ments of Senator Johnston, I desire to acknowledge my 
indebtedness to my friends, Mr. A. Nixon, clerk of the 
Superior Court of Lincoln County, N. C, and Bartlett S. 
Johnston, a brother of the Senator, for many of the facts 
and incidents which I have related. 

I have not spoken of his record while a Member of the 
United States Senate. This is still fresh in the minds of 
his associates, who have already spoken of it, and these 
utterances have found place in the permanent records of 
Congress. 

Mr. Speaker, we may well repeat of this gallant, splen- 
did gentleman the words Mark Antony used, in Shake- 
speare's "Julius Caesar," after he had routed Brutus in 
battle. When Brutus, despondent, commanded his faith- 
ful servant Strato to kill him with his own sword, Mark 
Antony, coming upon him sitting against a tree, dead, 
halted his triumphant army and, amid perfect silence, 
pointing to the dead Brutus, said: "His life was gentle, 
and the elements so mixed in him that nature might stand 
up and say to all the world, 'This was a man.' " 



[75] 



Address of Mr. Taylor, of Alabama 

Mr. Speaker: Joseph Forney Johnston was a rare man, 
adaptable, capable, successful. 

His success in life came to him naturally through a long 
line of ancestors and associations, and he grew as a 
sturdy oak grows in the forest, because he had it in him 
and nothing could hinder or check his rising above his 
fellows, a leader because he was born that way. 

Of his early boyhood I have heard little. He had 
early and good schooling, the best to be had in his day. 
He was educated beyond the school and had barely 
entered college life when war came, and the boy of 18 
became a soldier and a good one. He could not help it. 
It was his nature to be thorough, and he acted up to his 
nature. Four wounds and many battles proved his cour- 
age and his capacity, and he left the service at the close 
of the war a captain, still little more than a boy in years. 
He studied law as he acted the soldier, and he studied to 
win, and won. He became a good lawyer, a business 
lawyer, a man of coolness, sagacity, and judgment. He 
was not a great lawyer, but ranked high in his profession. 
The life of an attorney was too slow for him. He gave 
it up and became a banker, and as a banker and business 
man of affairs he won his highest recognition in private 
life. 

Joe Johnston, as he was familiarly known throughout 
the State of Alabama and almost throughout the South, 
was gifted with social virtues and accomplishments. He 
could and did hold his own in every gathering together 
of the people in his community. He was courteous, 
gentle, attractive in his home life and among his friends 

[76] 



Address of Mr. Taylor, of Alabama 



and acquaintances. He was a charming host, a fascinat- 
ing guest, ever welcome, and ever ready with wit and 
repartee to make an occasion better for his presence. 

He was ambitious, as is every man of courage, intelli- 
gence, and energy. Naturally he entered political life, 
but not till success in business enabled him to do so with- 
out injustice to his family. 

For many years his part in public life was active and 
effective work for his party in the State of his adoption, 
for he was born a North Carolinian and was proud of it. 
In the dark days of the South, through reconstruction 
and its horrors, no man stood more bravely at his post 
or did more unselfish and effective service than Senator 
Johnston. He was for a long time chairman of the 
Democratic executive committee of the State, and he did 
his work well and faithfully. 

When he presented himself for office he did not suc- 
ceed at once. He was elected governor after he had 
failed three times to get the nomination. 

But Capt. Johnston learned the battle of life under 
leaders who knew when to retreat and understood but 
would not accept defeat. So he tried again and suc- 
ceeded. He was twice governor of the State. His two 
administrations were stormy and he made many enemies 
and bitter ones, but the weight of opinion was and is 
that he was a good governor, an exceptionally good one, 
and added much to the history of Alabama that will be 
matter of pride to our people while time lasts. 

I am persuaded to believe Gov. Johnston had for years 
the largest personal following of any public man in 
Alabama in his day. 

He made friends easily and he held them, for he was 
loyal to his friends and fearless in the expression of his 
loyalty when necessity arose to claim evidence of it. It 
is not to be wondered at that Joe Johnston ended his 



[77] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

career as man, citizen, and public officer as a twice 
elected Member of tbe United States Senate. 

Senator Johnston was a member of tbe Episcopal 
Church. His attendance and attention to duty were the 
same as in business life — regular. He was a busy and a 
useful member, as prompt and punctual at services, 
vestry meetings, at general conventions and convocations, 
and as faithful as when he was a soldier in the ranks 
and under military discipline. 

Again it was simply the nature of the man. 

Few men have done so w r ell with their lives as this 
distinguished gentleman, and fewer still have done belter. 
A worthy life well spent and approved by his country- 
men, who loved him while living and will honor his 
memory forever. 

In camp and court, in banking house, and at church his 
voice is hushed. He can not answer, but his record 
answers for him — " Present and accounted for." 



[78] 



Address of Mr. Burnett, of Alabama 

Mr. Speaker : A little less than seven years ago we as- 
sembled in this Hall to pay tribute to the memory of 
Alabama's two distinguished Senators, Morgan and 
Pettus. They were men whose names were interlinked 
with the history of Alabama from its early days. 

Almost their entire lives were devoted to their State, 
and they died holding the highest commissions of public 
trust that their people could place in their devoted hands. 

When honor called them they unsheathed their swords 
for Alabama, and not until the Stars and Bars were furled 
forever did they emit the field of courageous duty. When 
they returned with heavy hearts to devastated homes and 
saddened people they set about to help inspire the hearts 
and restore the wrecked and ruined fortunes of sorrow- 
ing men and women. 

To-day we meet again to pay tribute to the memories 
of two other Alabama heroes who " died in the harness " 
while laboring for the people who had honored them. 
Senator Joseph F. Johnston and Bepresentative William 
Bichardson, like Senators Morgan and Pettus, dedicated 
their long and useful lives to Alabama and her people. 
They were both my friends, and to the memory of both 
I ask to pay my humble tribute of respect. 

Senator Johnston was a native of North Carolina — 
that grand old State that has given to Alabama many of 
the bravest and noblest of her sons. Through his veins 
flowed the blood of heroes of '76. He was a grandson 
of Col. James Johnston, of the Bevolutionary Army, and 
the great-grandson of Gilbert Johnston, who on Cullo- 
den's field shed his blood in the cause of the Pretender. 



[79] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

When a boy at school Senator Johnston hoard the 
bugle call to arms, and from private to captain this brave 
boy in gray followed the varying fortunes of the "storm- 
cradled nation " till its sun went down forever amid the 
gloom of Appomattox. Four times wounded, this in- 
trepid young Confederate rose each time from the bed of 
suffering to unsbeath his sword in behalf of a stainless 
flag and an honored cause. 

Just before the war he came to Alabama and cast his 
lot with her people, in sunshine and shadow, till God 
called him, and then with devoted hands and solemn 
steps we laid him to rest amid her magnolias and her 
pines. 

I first knew Senator Johnston when, as one of Ala- 
bama's chosen chiefs, he was called to lead her struggling 
people against the rule of the satrap and the carpetbagger, 
who were sapping the very heart blood of his people. 

No leader was ever more fully trusted or more highly 
honored. As chairman of the State Democratic commit- 
tee he was one of those who helped to throw off the yoke 
of the oppressor and to redeem his State from the thrall- 
dom of those who sought to crush out a prostrate people. 

He never sought any ofhce except that of governor and 
United States Senator. In both these high stations he 
manifested the same industry and devotion to duty that 
characterized his life on the field and in the private walks 
of life. 

He had a passion for work. In one of his campaigns 
for governor he wrote more than 5,000 letters with his 
own pen. 

In 1906 he was nominated alternate Senator and on 
the death of Senator Pettus was elected by the legislature 
as his successor. 

When the Democrats secured the majority in the 
Senate he was made chairman of the Committee on 



[80] 



Address of Mr. Burnett, of Alabama 

Military Affairs and was assigned to several other im- 
portant committees. 

In his career as Senator he was thoughtful of every 
detail of interest to his people. No little pension case or 
post-office matter was too small for his attention. 

His humblest constituent was as dear to him as the 
greatest steel magnate in his State. 

While he was a man of detail, he also had many of 
the elements of splendid statesmanship. Wherever duty 
pointed there his footsteps led him. 

In one great case which came under his jurisdiction as 
Senator he knew that a decision one way might mean his 
defeat, and yet he believed that duty led that way, and 
with splendid courage he followed what he thought was 
right. 

His fatal illness was only for a few days, and his col- 
leagues, with sad hearts and tear-dimmed eyes, listened 
with bated breath when the news was brought that 
Senator Johnston was no more. 

I was one of those who attended his funeral, and from 
all over Alabama came the multitudes to mingle their 
tears with those of his beloved State. 

When I saw this vast concourse that crowded the little 
church and thronged the streets I said, as was said of 
another, " Behold how they loved him." 

He died as he had lived, " on the field of duty." He is 
gone, but " his deeds do follow him." 



[81] 



Address of Mr. Austin, of Tennessee 

Mr. Speaker: I first met the late Senator Johnston 25 
years ago when lie was the president of one of the lead- 
ing hanks of Birmingham, Ala., and our second meeting 
was here in Washington after his election to the Senate 
and at the beginning of my service in this House in the 
Sixty-first Congress. During the last few months of his 
life we were thrown together daily, having our residence 
in the same apartment house. There not only grew up a 
close friendship between us, but the members of our fami- 
lies soon learned to love each other. 

I had every opportunity to observe the official conduct 
of the Senator and can truthfully say I do not believe a 
more faithful, tireless worker ever served in either House 
of the American Congress. There seemed no limit to his 
power of endurance, of constant, ceaseless toil, not only 
for his immediate constituents, but for the country at 
large. Up to the very hour of his fatal sickness he was ;it 
work night and day. During the long extra session of 
this Congress he was in his seat in the Senate, not only 
during even- day, but in attendance at every night session. 
He did not leave or do all of his work at the Capitol, but 
performed much of it at home. Considering his age and 
the vigorous, active life he had led, it was a marvel how 
much he would accomplish; how much hard and difficult 
work he could crowd into a day. He was so true to the 
interest of his people, so conscientious in the performance 
of his duties, so anxious to continue to the end his splen- 
did record as a faithful public servant that he let no 
opportunity pass to do good; to accomplish results; to 
advance and promote the interest of his beloved State and 



[82] 



Address of Mr. Austin, of Tennessee 

Nation. He was not only a constant, endless worker, but 
he possessed that rare virtue of always having the cour- 
age of his convictions. He was not a trimmer; he never 
dodged; he hated hypocrisy; and had no patience with 
the demagogue. 

He had high and lofty ideals of his duties and responsi- 
bilities, and hence he lived the life of an honorable, 
worthy, patriotic statesman. He was not only loyal and 
faithful to the State and Nation he served so well, but he 
was true and devoted to the countless thousands of 
friends who stood by him in all of his contests before the 
people of Alabama. 

I never knew a more considerate, loving husband — so 
full of gentleness, tenderness, and sweetness for his 
thoughtful, devoted wife. This kind and genial man, 
warm and generous friend, devoted husband and indul- 
gent father, fair and manly opponent, incorruptible and 
courageous public servant, was a martyr to duty, to the 
people's cause. Finally, weary, tired out, overworked, 
and exhausted, " God touched him, and he fell asleep." 

Tennessee joins Alabama in paying a just and loving 
tribute to her fallen leader, her brave and gallant Con- 
federate soldier, her wise and progressive governor, her 
efficient and faithful Senator. 



[83] 



Address of Mr. Hefun, or Alabama 

Mr. Speaker: Again the flag on the Capitol has stood 
at half-mast. Another Member of the national official 
family has gone. A desk in the Senate Chamber has been 
covered with flowers. A United States Senator is dead. 
Alabama heard with profound sorrow of the death of 
Senator Joseph F. Johnston, and she mourns the loss 
of a devoted, able, and honored son. He gave the best 
years of his young manhood in battle for his State and 
he spilt his blood in the settlement of the great ques- 
tion that determined finally and forever the indisputable 
status of the Union. 

When the war was over lie returned to Alabama and 
there reconsecrated his heart, his strength, and his all 
to the highest and best interests of his State. Mr. 
Speaker, in reconstruction times he was a terror to the 
vandal horde that came into Alabama to incite the ne- 
groes and to plunder our people, and no one did more 
than he to protect our women from the lust and carnality 
of the brutes in our midst and to drive out the scalawags 
and carpetbaggers and to give back home rule and self- 
government to the State that he loved. He helped to 
bring his beloved Commonwealth back into cordial rela- 
tionship with her sisters in the great household of sov- 
ereign States. He was honored and loved by our people. 
They called him to the high office of governor in the 
State of Alabama, and in that responsible ami exalted 
position he reflected great credit upon himself and the 
people of the State. 

He brought about many substantial and helpful reforms 
in the civic ((induct of the State, and his administration 
w;is :i distinct blessing to the people of Alabama. 

[84] 



Address of Mr. Heflin, of Alabama 



Mr. Speaker, he lived to see a man born in the South 
elected Chief Executive of the Nation, and the people of 
Alabama, having honored him with a seat in the United 
States Senate, it was his proud privilege to serve in that 
august body when a southern-born Democrat sat in the 
White House as President of the United States. 

His was a unique and splendid career, full of faithful 
service and distinguished honors, and he died highly es- 
teemed by his associates in the Senate and greatly loved 
and honored by the people of his State. 



[85] 



Address of Mr. Ahercrombie, of Alabam \ 

Mr. Speaker: We have assembled to-day for the pur- 
pose of paying tribute to the lives and characters of two 
of Alabama's most distinguished citizens, two of the 
Nation's most faithful servants — former United States 
Senator Joseph Forney Johnston and former Representa- 
tive William Richardson. 

While I enjoyed the privilege of a personal acquaint- 
ance with each of them, while I held them in equal 
esteem, and while 1 purpose to pay a tribute to each, I 
will be pardoned if, on account of my longer and more 
intimate acquaintance with him, I should speak at some- 
what greater length of Senator Johnston. During his 
incumbency as governor of Alabama I had the honor of 
being a State officer, a quasi member of his cabinet, and 
in that capacity had an unusual opportunity to observe 
his habits, to study his methods, and to appraise his 
character. 

Senator Johnston was born in the State of North Caro- 
lina March 23, 1843, and was the son of Dr. William and 
Nancy (Forney) Johnston. He died in the city of Wash- 
ington on the 8th day of August, 1913, having attained to 
the age of 70 years 4 months and 15 days. His funeral 
was one of the most largely attended that ever occurred 
in Alabama, so universally beloved was he by his people. 

In the days of his youth educational advantages were 
meager and beyond the reach of most people, hut not- 
withstanding those limitations and the exigencies of war 
that called him from the schoolroom while yet in his 
teens, he possessed a highly cultivated mind. He was a 
well-educated man, though he never attended college or 



[86] 



Address of Mr. Abercrombie, of Alabama 

university. In this time of schools, colleges, universities, 
libraries, newspapers, and other educational agencies, it 
is difficult for us to appreciate the obstacles to learning 
that beset the youth of that day. Only the most indom- 
itable could overcome them. He belonged to that type. 
Indeed, for tenacity of purpose he was equaled by few, 
surpassed by none. Once formed, he never abandoned a 
purpose except in response to the dictates of reason and 
conscience. 

When 18 years of age, responding to the call of duty 
as he interpreted it, as did tens of thousands of other 
young Southerners, he withdrew from the high school in 
which he was a student and enlisted as a private in the 
Army of the Confederate States of America. He served 
faithfully and gallantly throughout that mighty struggle, 
participated in a number of battles, received four 
wounds, and was promoted to the rank of captain. When 
the tremendous contest was over, regarding the issue as 
a closed matter, accepting the result philosophically, he 
joined his fellows in the task of rehabilitating the South- 
land, and for the remainder of his eventful life wrought 
heroically and effectively in that stupendous undertaking. 

After reading law at Jacksonville, Ala., in the office of 
his kinsman, Gen. William Henry Forney, who was sub- 
sequently a distinguished Member of this body, he located 
at Selma, in that State, where he pursued his profession 
from 1866 to 1884, a period of 17 years. At the bar, as in 
the army and elsewhere, he was successful. A man of 
his capacity, diligence, determination, and straightfor- 
wardness always succeeds. 

As is the case with most successful lawyers Senator 
Johnston was a good business man, and in 1884 he re- 
moved from Selma to Birmingham, where for the next 
10 years he was president of the Alabama National Bank. 
He was one of the organizers and the first president of 

[87] 



Memorial Addresses : Senator Johnston 

the Sloss Iron & Steel Co., a pioneer in the development 
of the Birmingham district, and many of the most suc- 
cessful business and industrial enterprises of that re- 
markable district are due to his initiative, foresight, and 
leadership. He was a born leader, and was equally at 
home as soldier, lawyer, financier, and statesman. 

During the exciting, troublesome, and cruel times of 
the reconstruction era, when the crushed and unhappy 
Southland was experiencing a perfect nightmare of hu- 
miliation, injustice, and horror, Senator Johnston was a 
wise, fearless, and efficient leader of his people, and in 
his capacity as chairman of the State Democratic execu- 
tive committee of Alabama was influential in the ulti- 
mately successful struggle for the reestablishmcnt of 
white supremacy in the Southern States. It was largely 
through his efforts that the white people of Alabama 
regained control of the State government, and it was but 
natural, therefore, that they honored him with every 
public office to which he aspired. 

He was elected governor of Alabama in 1896 and again 
in 1898. His administration began during the great and 
widespread financial and industrial depression of that 
period, and was characterized by the highest types of 
ability, courage, and patriotism. Taxes were more nearly 
equalized, schools were promoted, economies were inau- 
gurated, business and industry were encouraged, laws 
were vigorously enforced, and the State entered upon an 
era of progress and prosperity. While some of his poli- 
cies were assailed by political opponents, all now con- 
cede that his administration as governor was able, pa- 
triotic, and efficient 

In August, 1907, he was elected to the United States 
Senate to fill the unexpired portion of the term of 
former Senator Edmund Winston Pettus, who died while 
in office. He was reelected for the term ending in March, 

[88] 



Address of Mr. Abercrombie, of Alabama 

1915. As a Member of the Senate he soon won the con- 
fidence and esteem of his colleagues, and was noted for 
his energy, breadth of view, cheerfulness, and devotion 
to duty. Indeed, it is a matter of common knowledge 
among his colaborers in Congress, especially among 
members of his own State delegation, that his death was 
hastened by close application to arduous duties incident 
to the frequent and continued sessions of Congress after 
he became a Member of the Senate. His colleagues urged 
him to take a rest, but he refused to do so and went 
down at the post of duty. When his death was an- 
nounced, a distinguished member of the Alabama dele- 
gation truthfully said of Senator Johnston, " He was a 
victim of his devotion to public duty." 

With all of his varied activities in secular affairs, in 
each of which he was signally successful, he did not 
neglect the spiritual side of his nature. He was long a 
communicant of the church of his choice, the Episcopal 
Church, and he displayed there the same elements of 
popularity and leadership that characterized him in 
secular life. His church conferred many honors upon 
him, and I have never witnessed so beautiful a testi- 
monial as that incident to his funeral, which I had the 
honor of attending. The entire city of Birmingham 
seemed to be in mourning, and every portion of Alabama 
was represented. 

Like most other men of great achievement, Senator 
Johnston was in large measure the architect of his own 
fortune. He began at the bottom; he ended at the top. 
In both private and public life he was wedded to high 
ideals, and no man was ever more tenacious in the 
advocacy of the principles for which he stood. A more 
determined, a more courageous, a more conscientious, a 
more patriotic man I never knew, and I had opportunity 
to know him in many trying conditions. But with all of 

[89] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

his tenacity and firmness I never knew him to cease to 
smile. He was cheerful under all circumstances. In- 
deed, cheerfulness was one of his most striking char- 
acteristics, and fortunate is the man who can smile. 

Laugh and the world laughs with you; 
Weep, and you weep alone. 

A man's character is measured by his ethical standards. 
Senator Johnston's code of ethics is reflected in the fol- 
lowing quotation from the speech which he delivered in 
lln Senate on the occasion of the death of his illustrious 
predecessor: 

It seems to me, Mr. President, that a man who nurses an injury 
and prides himself on relentlessly pursuing an enemy may be an 
able man, but can never be cilher a great or a good man. * * 

A man who steels himself against forgiveness and goes through 
life with resentment in his heart will never command the admira- 
tion of his people or deserve their leadership. How much nobler 
it is to have it recorded of a man that he loved his friends and 
conquered his enemies by the generosity of his disposition. 

Alabama has sent many able men to the Senate of the 
United States. In the years to come she may send many 
other able men to that august body, but she will never 
commission for that high service a man of more stainless 
honor, of more incorruptible character, of more un- 
wavering courage, of more stalwart patriotism than was 
Joseph Forney Johnston. 



90] 



Address of Mr. Mulkey, of Alabama 

Mr. Speaker: We have met to-day in this Hall to pay 
tribute to the memory of two great American statesmen, 
patriots, and Christians. Both were an honor to the 
Nation and to their State, and of whom it may truly be 
said that the world is better by their having lived. 

I did not have the pleasure of knowing, personally, 
Congressman Richardson, and I shall leave the eulogy 
upon him to be pronounced by others, but I do not affect 
to be ignorant of his exalted character, of his achieve- 
ments in public life, and of his devotion to duty. I shall 
speak to-day with reference to the late Senator Johnston, 
whose personal and intimate acquaintanceship it was my 
privilege to form. 

Senator Johnston, a North Carolinian by birth, was a 
descendant of the Johnstons, a Scotch-Irish family which 
emigrated to America after the battle of Culloden and 
settled in North Carolina, and of the Forneys, a Huguenot 
family which left Lorraine at the time of the religious 
persecutions. 

His grandfather, Gilbert Johnston, with the latter's 
father, also bearing the name of Gilbert Johnston, resi- 
dents of Anandale, were devoted followers of Prince 
Charlie in all of the vicissitudes of the Pretender after 
the Battle of Culloden, in which both participated. Both 
father and son were compelled by the royalists to flee 
from Scotland. They stopped for a time in Ireland and 
then came to North Carolina, where a brother of the 
elder Gilbert Johnston was the royalist governor of that 
province. The elder Gilbert Johnston was outlawed by 
the Crown for his adherence to the cause of the Pre- 



[91] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

tender, and, although he was protected by his brother, 

the governor, he was unable to hold property in his own 
name on account of the law of escheat, which would have 
forfeited his holdings to the Crown. 

His grandson, James Johnston, was a colonel of the 
Revolutionary forces, and he, in turn, was the grand- 
father of Joseph F. Johnston. 

Joseph F. Johnston was attending a military school 
for boys in Alabama at the time of the secession of the 
Southern States. His brothers, some of whom had grad- 
uated and some of whom were in attendance at the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina, all enlisted; and Joseph F. 
Johnston also enlisted, at the age of 17, in the Eighteenth 
Alabama Regiment. On the promotion of his elder 
brother, Robert D. Johnston, to the rank of brigadier 
general for repeated acts of gallantry in the field, Joseph 
F. Johnston, who at that time held a lieutenancy, was 
transferred to the Twelfth North Carolina Regiment and 
became a captain upon the staff of his brother, Gen. R. D. 
Johnston. 

Capt. Johnston was wounded four times during the 
Civil War, and in the fighting near Winchester a shrapnel 
exploded and a fragment of the shell passed entirely 
through his chest, so seriously wounding him that he 
made his way with great difficulty to his home in North 
Carolina, where he finally recovered from the wound and 
rejoined his regiment before the close of the war. 

The family was of course impoverished, their available 
resources having been invested in securities of the Con- 
federate Government. His father had died some years 
before the war, and the product of the plantation owned 
by his mother was barely sufficient to support the mother 
and his two sisters. The family resources were further 
taxed in order to enable his elder brothers, Robert D. 
Johnston and William H. Johnston, to complete courses 

92 



Address of Mr. Mulkey, of Alabama 

at the law school of the University of Virginia and at the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, respec- 
tively. Joseph F. Johnston was accordingly compelled 
to begin life with a total cash capital consisting of a mule 
and wagon and a box of tobacco, with which he set out 
for Jacksonville, Ala., where he began the study of law 
in the office of his cousin, William H. Forney, who had 
been a major general in the Confederate service and who 
for many years represented his district in the Congress of 
the United States. 

After having been admitted to the bar Capt. Johnston 
moved to Selma, in Dallas County, the home of John T. 
Morgan and Edmund W. Pettus. He was at first asso- 
ciated in the office of Brooks, Haralson & Roy, and subse- 
quently, during his residence in Selma, practiced law 
with Col. W. R. Nelson and with John P. Tillman. He 
moved to Birmingham in 1884, at the instance of clients 
who had become interested in the Birmingham district 
and induced Capt. Johnston to retire from the practice 
of law and organize the Alabama State Bank, afterwards 
the Alabama National Bank. In Birmingham he early 
identified himself with the industrial development of 
that city and district, becoming president of the Sloss 
Iron & Steel Co. 

In the days of reconstruction Capt. Johnston was un- 
sparing in his efforts to restore normal conditions. The 
dangers and burden of the civil strife which beset the 
people of Alabama at that time, and particularly in those 
counties in which the recently freed blacks were largely 
in the majority, were no less acute than those of actual 
war, and for his consistent and patient service in this 
respect Capt. Johnston had become a member of the 
State Democratic executive committee and was serving 
as chairman of that committee in 1874 when the election 
by the Democrats of George S. Houston as governor put 

[93] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

an end to the intolerable regime of the carpetbaggers in 
Alabama. Feeling that his militant service of his State 
and people, beginning with four years of civil war and 
ending with nine years of no less tempestuous political 
turmoil, had for a time discharged his public obligations 
in that connection, he devoted his attention to the prac- 
tice of law and, on moving to Birmingham, to the de- 
velopment of that city and district 

The experiences of Capt. Johnston and his associates 
during reconstruction days constitute the most pro- 
foundly interesting pages in the history of Alabama, and 
it is unfortunate that complete annals of that turbulent 
period have not been made available for the historian of 
the future. 

It is quite proper that we should meet on occasions like 
this and, in a feeble way, rehearse the character of great 
men. It is fitting not only because it shows our appre- 
ciation of their lives and services to their country, but is 
high evidence that as a Nation we cherish the memory 
of those whose judgments have guided us and aided 
materially in producing that happiness and prosperity 
and good fellowship so universally enjoyed by us. More- 
over, by it we teach future generations the value of great 
lives and the importance of a cultivation of their ideals. 
I would not want to live in a country which would not 
honor its patriotic dead. Failure in this regard is the 
surest sign of national decay. 

The erection of statues and monuments to the dis- 
tinguished dead, and the commemoration of their lives 
and proclaiming their virtues, must of necessity impress 
those who are to follow, and upon whose shoulders shall 
rest the great responsibility of guiding this Nation to its 
final high destiny, with the idea that no nation can long 
endure whose guiding hand is without virtue, character, 
or patriotism. 

[94] 



Address of Mr. Mulkey, of Alabama 

It is our duty to transmit to future generations the vir- 
tues of our illustrious men, not so much merely to keep 
these men alive in their memories, but that their ex- 
amples may be emulated and their high ideals adopted. 

No one need be alarmed as to the final destiny of this 
Republic as long as we, as a Nation, delight to extol the 
virtues of our truly great men. From it we are inspired 
by patriotic impulses and press forward with more deter- 
mined zeal to reach that high mark in whose direction 
their own strong efforts were aimed. 

Senator Johnston is dead. He died as he lived, in the 
service of his country. He felt a deep interest in the 
progress of mankind. He directed his talent to their ele- 
vation and increased happiness at all times, forgetting 
himself, or rather unconscious of himself. He was wholly 
unselfish and always solicitous and considerate of the 
welfare of others. He never did any act, knowingly, 
which was calculated to deceive or injure others. He 
was incapable of it. He was delighted most when he was 
doing something for the comfort and well-being of his 
fellow man. The ends at which he aimed, both in public 
and private life, were his country's and his God's. He 
was a godly man, the first great essential to wisdom. As 
a soldier in the unhappy struggle of 1861, he never fal- 
tered in what he conceived to be his duty, and came from 
the battle field to a desolate home, honored by his people 
for his courage, bravery, and fidelity to the cause he so 
valiantly espoused. When the smoke of battle cleared 
away and the burning issue which had divided the two 
sections of our country had been settled by the sword, 
he took steps to aid in the rescue of Alabama from mis- 
rule and to elevate her to that station among the States 
of the Union to which she was entitled. 

As governor of Alabama he distinguished himself in 
many ways. His administration of affairs was noted by 

[95] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

an era of prosperity in that State without parallel or 
precedent. He urged many reforms, and his ideas were 
adopted into statutory laws. 

It would not be appropriate here to detail his great 
work as governor of the State. He set an example of 
economy and honesty in every department of the State 
which has resulted in its betterment. Through him the 
convict system was placed upon a more humane basis; 
reform schools were adopted; curtailment of child labor 
in our factories provided for; a more symmetrical sys- 
tem of taxation inaugurated; a system of rigid examina- 
tions of public officials and of their books and accounts 
enacted; and, in fine, the interest of the people carefully 
and scrupulously guarded. He was a very popular gov- 
ernor, though, of course, as all men in public life, he had 
his political enemies. But they respected, though they 
feared him. The people of his State appreciated his 
extraordinary talents and powers displayed in the Senate 
of the United States. Here he shone as a particularly 
bright star. He was a constructive statesman and yielded 
his convictions to no man. In casting his vote he did not 
stop to inquire whether he was with the majority or 
minority. He voted, spoke, and acted from the dictation 
of his own conscience, and not from the viewpoint of 
policy or of the demagogue. He did not have to explain 
his votes and position on public questions to the people 
of Alabama. We understood him and knew that his 
chief joy was in his country's good. 

At the time of his death he was a candidate for re- 
election to the Senate. No one seriously doubted that he 
would be elected. Almost everybody in every walk of 
life was his friend. How could they have been other- 
wise? Every public act of his was in sympathy with 
their needs 



[96] 



Address of Mr. Mulkey, of Alabama 



But he met the common fate of men. He has passed 
from this world. Though no more, yet his character, his 
notable achievements, and his public spirit will never die. 
They will endure as long as time itself. He was true to 
himself, and it followed, as night the day, that he could 
not be false to others. But, sir, his great work may go 
on; his great mind may be engaged in the amelioration 
of mankind. Of the future life but little is known. It is 
shrouded in mystery and doubt. We all dread to meet it, 
because we do not know with certainty what it is. We 
think, we imagine, we often suit it to our own conditions, 
yet none of us are satisfied with our own diagnosis. 

But whatever may be our doubts and fears, who would 
or could deny that the great mind of Senator Johnston 
did not die with him, but that it has gone to a happier 
and better world, there to inspire, improve, and advance 
in a greater degree than ever before the general condition 
of mankind, and who doubts that he is now exalting 
other nations and peoples to a higher degree of right- 
eousness? 

Senator Johnston was a Democrat of the old school. 
He was eminently safe and sane. He did not seize every 
political heresy sweeping over the country and nurture 
it in order to advance his own political fortunes. He 
stood for the Constitution and sound government. He 
was not swept off his feet, nor was his judgment dis- 
turbed by the vaporings of either the demagogue or 
the alarmist. He was not afraid of the arguments of 
political revolutionists as long as reason was left free to 
combat them. Senator Johnston did not live in vain; his 
life tended to make the world richer and better; his 
examples may well be emulated and his character and 
integrity serve as a model for all. I repeat, he died as he 
had lived, in the service of his country, and the sky upon 
which he closed his eve was cloudless. 



[97] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Johnston 

ujjournmen r 

Then, in accordance with the resolution heretofore 
adopted, at 2 o'clock and 22 minutes p. in., the House 
adjourned until to-morrow. Monday. February 1, 1915, at 

12 o'clock noon. 






[98] 



